Turn with me to Romans chapter 15, 8, to verse 13. We're going to finish up the sermon we started last week. Romans chapter 8, verse 8 through 13. "For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

As it is written, 'Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.' And again it is said, 'Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.' And again, 'Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the people extol him.' And again Isaiah says, 'The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles.

In him will the Gentiles hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.'" Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we thank you. Thank you for the things that we are aware of, and even the things, Lord, that you are doing that we are not aware of.

We know, Father God, that you love us, that you're working all things together for good for those who have been called according to your purpose. Help us, Lord God, to take our eyes off of what is happening around us, that we may give ourselves fully to you. May your word bear fruit this morning.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. The text that we're looking at this morning, as I mentioned, it started last week. The first point of the message was that all that Paul has been saying about Christ and his sacrifice in chapters 1 through 15 is to prove his faithfulness, that God's salvation plan was not plan B.

Paul mentions these various passages and is talking about how Israel is lifted up and is glorified to bring glory to God, and then the Gentiles and then the Israelites become one in praising God. And then we're now in a period where the Gentiles have taken the front seat, and then sometime in the future he's going to use the Gentiles to stir up jealousy among the Jews and then have them restored so that God's kingdom may be restored in proper worship.

So that's what we looked at last week. Before we get into the second and third point of this text, I can't emphasize enough how important this particular text is. And this is not to nullify all the other texts that we were in before, but as I mentioned, Romans chapter 1, he began the presentation of the gospel by basically trying to convince that there was a need for a savior because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

So he's been systematically arguing the necessity of Christ and his sacrifice. And then we get to chapter 9 through 11, we look at the history of how God's been working with Israel and what his plan is for them for the future. And then chapter 12 through 15, the text that we're at, which is going to end in verse 13 today, is the conclusion, not only of the imperative section from chapter 12 through 15, but really is a conclusion of everything that he's been saying is beginning from chapter 1.

So if you remember, he said that God's intent, he starts in chapter 1 by saying that all have sinned and then all are sinned and is condemned, whether you are under the law or not under the law. Chapter 15, at the end of verse 13, ends with all will be saved, whether Gentiles or Jews.

Why this text? And obviously why this text is so important for us to understand is because this is the conclusion of what he's been trying to say. We still have a chapter and a half to go where Paul is going to conclude his message and he's going to be a lot more personal about why he's coming there and he's hoping to get some support to get to Jerusalem.

But his main thesis is coming to a conclusion. So if you've ever taken public speaking, you probably were taught that introduction is extremely important. If you stand in front of people and you're trying to present something and you start out with the boring story or you go into your thesis and you just lose the people.

And so I noticed that whether it's sitcom or movies, they're all like that. It kind of starts with a bang. So if you watch a movie, that big explosion to get your attention and then it kind of goes into the story and then it ends with some kind of a cliffhanger to kind of keep you hanging.

So whenever you're presenting something, whether it's from speech or cinema, you have to really pay attention to what's happening in the beginning and how it concludes because that's where the punch is. That's what the writer is hoping that you'll understand. So verse 8 through 13 is the conclusion of 15 chapters of Paul's dissertation of the gospel.

So if there's any text that you really, really should know, it's all the Bible, obviously, but then if you really need to focus on the book of Romans, you need to understand that this is what he's been leading us to. Like I told you, I've been preaching on this for the last three years.

And three years of conclusion comes to this. So again, I can't emphasize enough how important this text is. The first point we looked at last week was that Christ's sacrifice proves God's faithfulness. The text says in verse 8, "For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness." And the reason why he did that is that in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.

Again, that was our point last week, that everything God has done, it proves that God, what he had promised in Genesis chapter 3, that all of what we study in Old Testament, New Testament is a fulfillment of that promise. But that's not the end conclusion. The end conclusion is not, "Well, God is faithful." God is a God that we can trust, which is true.

But the end, end conclusion we see in verse 9, "In order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy." The point that he makes in verse 9 isn't one of many points. This is the point. This is the conclusion of the gospel. So if you miss this, if you have a very loose understanding or application of this, it's kind of like running a marathon and you ran 25 miles and on the 26th mile you decided to go eat sushi buffet and then you never finished the race.

So you ran a great race, but you just didn't finish. There's no prize waiting for you. So you can understand everything about Christianity. You can practice. You can go on missions, do all of this. And if you miss this, then you've missed the whole point of your salvation. Not just the part, but the end conclusion.

Why he saved us to begin with. So the second point that I want to convey, at least the title wise, that Christ's sacrifice restores proper worship. Or if you want to say it another way, the end conclusion of the gospel is restoration of proper worship. 2 Corinthians 1.20 says, "For all the promises of God, find their yes in him." Talking about Christ and his sacrifice.

That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. In other words, Christ fulfilled all the promises and because he fulfilled all the promises, it leads us to say amen to God for his glory. It leads us to worship. Worship is the end conclusion of our salvation.

It's not simply to keep us from going to hell. In some circles, salvation is you're having a hard life and God's going to take away your sins so that you can have a better life. Or you're having financial troubles and God's going to answer your prayers and it's going to be better.

You're raising children and God's going to answer your prayers so that your children would have a better life when they grow up. That is not the point of the gospel at all. In fact, some of us are sick because God wants us sick. Some of us are poor because God causes us to be poor.

Some of us go through all kinds of trials, all for the purpose of causing us to become better worshipers because his end goal is not our health, is not our wealth, is not our safety. The end goal is worship of God. So if making you wealthy hinders you from worshiping God, then the worst thing that can happen to you is to be wealthy.

If becoming healthy and strong causes you to be hindered in your worship of God, the worst thing that can happen to you is to be healthy and strong. God's ultimate end goal is worship. That's why God says to Moses at the beginning of the nation of Israel, he tells Moses to go tell Pharaoh in Exodus 7, 16 and about 10 other passages where he repeats the exact same phrase, "The Lord, the God of Hebrews, sent me to you saying, 'Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness, but so far you have not obeyed.'" Now the word for serve here, some of your translation says worship.

The reason why it's translated worship because the Greek equivalent to that word serve here is the Greek equivalent, the word subomai. And subomai, again in the New Testament, it means to serve in a physical sense, whether it's at the temple and other sense, physically to serve God as an act of worship.

That's what the word subomai means. So God says repeatedly to the nation of Israel to go tell Moses so that you can be separated and be set free for the purpose of worshiping him. That was the primary reason why they needed to be free, not simply to end their suffering, not simply so that they can be free and be a great nation, so that they can be free to worship him.

If you remember in John chapter 4, he has a conversation with a Samaritan woman and they go back and forth and Jesus draws her out from her sins and she's kind of throwing up a smoke screen saying, "Well, you Jews worship there and we worship here and, you know, like which is correct?" And Jesus says, "It doesn't matter one way or the other because what God is looking for are people who will worship him in spirit and in truth." You and I know, you've been a Christian long enough to know that worship isn't just something that you just check in and check out.

Worship requires much more than that. In fact, it is central to our walk with God. It's central to everything that we do. You probably have heard this quote many times before, but I want to read it again from John Piper from the book, "Let the Nations Be Glad." And I want to read that quote for you because it pretty much sums up the point of the sermon this morning.

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions. Because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, the countless millions of redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God. Missions will be no more.

It is temporary necessity, but worship abides forever. I don't know about you, but when you read that out of context, and you say, "Well, John Piper said it, so it must be true." And so I hear this, like worship exists because, or evangelism exists because worship doesn't. It's a great quote, and I've seen it on Facebook so many times, and I've heard you guys quote it so many times.

But what does that mean? Other than John Piper said it, it must be true. It's almost inerrant. Where does this come from? So what I want to do this morning is look through the scriptures and find out where this is coming from, and why this is so crucial to not only understanding, but practice of our Christian faith, because this is the end goal.

The end goal is worship. The word worship in English comes from a Latin word called "viar scipe," and literally it means to give worship, to give worth to something. So by definition of this word worship, it requires a sense of adoration, because that's what the word worship means. Only in our Christian circle, we've made worship something that we do Sunday morning.

You come, you clock in and you clock out, you give, you serve, and so that has become worship. But the general understanding of what worship is, is when you have given your heart, your time, your energy, your thought to something because you adore it. So when you are obsessed with money, what do they say?

You worship money. If you are obsessed with Lakers, you're a Lakers worshiper. You worship Kobe Bryant, you worship this, you worship travel. And we use that to describe something or someone who is completely given. You're so enamored by an individual or product or money, whatever it may be. Because the very definition of the word worship means that you give supreme value to that which you are worshiping.

So by definition, worship is not something that we do from determination, but worship is something that we do from inspiration. Let me say that again. By definition of the word worship, worship is not something that you do from determination. It is something that you do from inspiration. Because it requires not simply your physical activity, but your adoration.

That's why the scripture says the greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And it's another way of describing the command to worship Him and to Him alone. To give the greatest value to God and God alone. So the very definition of worship requires us to be enamored by Him.

Not just to say, "Yeah, you know, He's valuable," or to be marginalized. Everything that we do is to come before God and to see who He is. And it inspires us to worship. And that's why He says everything that He has done to fulfill His promise in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for what?

For His mercy. The point of the cross, the end product of the cross is worship. Is not simply freedom from condemnation. We were freed from condemnation that we may enter the throne of grace with confidence. Because with sin, you can't enter to worship. It wasn't just you're freed from sin to go do whatever you want.

You're freed from sin so that you can come and fellowship with God for the purpose of worship. And you're going to hear me say that about a hundred times before this sermon ends. Because it is that crucial. It is central to our understanding of our salvation. I want you to turn your Bibles with me to Revelations chapter 4.

And I know the passage is going to be up here and you can look at that. But if you have your physical Bibles, turn with Revelations chapter 4, 1 through. And I'm just going to give you a heads up that we're going to be reading chapter 4 and all of chapter 5.

Okay, well most of it. And the reason why I'm doing that is because again, I want to emphasize the importance of this point. Revelation chapter 4 is the beginning of the revelation that God is giving to John about the redemptive plan of God that's going to unfold through these three specific visions of the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and then the bowl judgments.

And through these specific visions, it's basically outlining God's redemptive plan. Whether it is past, present, or future. But before he begins this vision, he takes John up and he shows him the throne of God. And this is what he sees. And I'm going to start reading from verse 3.

And he who sat there and had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were 24 thrones, and seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.

From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. And this goes on and on and on.

Now we can go into like, what are the crystals? What do they represent? What does the thunder represent? And all of that. But the point that I want to make here is not to tell you what all of these glasses and crystals mean. Other than the fact that when John saw the image of the throne, he saw something majestic.

And so every little detail, instead of scrutinizing what it means, is for us to take a step back and look at this majestic picture that John sees. And he's doing his best to describe the details, but what we are to see is the big picture. It's God's majesty that he's describing.

And he says, "And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. And the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature like a face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.

Four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.'" This is the same vision that Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6.

As he was being prepared to be the spokesperson for the nation of Israel, God opens his eyes to see the throne, throne of God, and he sees these creatures surrounding, and what's happening is worship. 24/7, these holy creatures are in his presence, worshiping God, "Holy, holy, holy." And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who's seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne, worship him, who lives forever and ever.

They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." You see how in their worship, what is the first thing that they say? You are worthy.

And that is, again, the very definition of the word worship is to give the highest value to the object that you are worshiping. And so these elders who are crowned representing kings, they lay it down in surrender before something greater than them, and so the whole throne, the vision that John sees, is this vision of all-inspiring worship.

But this scene of heaven doesn't end here. If you notice, something is missing in chapter 5, or chapter 4. You and I are not there. This vision of God, these holy creatures who are surrounding him in worship, as majestic as it is, the complete picture is shown in Revelation chapter 5.

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals, and I saw strong angels proclaim with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seal?" The scroll he's referring to, he records redemptive history, from the need for Christ, the judgment, and the restoration, and that's what the seal represents, and he says, "Who," again, that word "worthy." "Who is worthy, who is of value to be able to open this?" And no one in heaven or on earth, or under the earth, was able to open the scroll or to look into it.

And he began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Despair. And this is the description that John gave, or Paul gave, in Romans chapter 1, 2, and 3. That this is the state of mankind, that no one is worthy.

And there's sadness, there's darkness. The sin reigns over mankind and they have no power over it. And so they said they are weeping, and in verse 5, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and the seven seals.'" He says, "Weep no more, we have hope.

The Lion of Judah," remember we talked about that last week, the Root of David, not the Fruit of David, but the root that upholds David has come and he has conquered. We have hope. Stop crying. And then when they look to see this Lion, what do they see? "Between the throne and the four living creatures, among the elders, I saw the Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns, with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth." And this is where you've heard the phrase, "The Lion of Judah coming as a lamb to be slaughtered." It comes from the second, one of my favorite passages in the Bible, because you see this strong lion figure who had every right to reign and receive glory, gives that up and he appears as a lamb who is slain, all for the purpose of redeeming sinners.

And as a result of that, verse seven is that, "He went and took scrolls from the right hand of him, and who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and twenty-four elders fell down now before the Lamb." As they fell down before the throne of God, now before the Lamb, they all fall down and bow in worship, each holding a harp, golden bowls of full incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

The prayers of the saints are not mentioned in chapter four. The Lamb, because of his sacrifice, he begins to involve us in worship, and in verse nine, "And they sang a new song." What does he mean by a new song? A song that didn't exist before. They added this new song because of his mercy.

God was receiving glory. It was a majestic scene. Even the holiest of creatures were bowing down in reverence and honor. But because of Jesus' sacrifice and his mercy, the prayers of the saints arise and we all participate in the singing of this new song. And what is the basis of this new song?

It's the gospel. "Blessed are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you are slain, and by your blood you ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." We didn't exist in chapter five, at least chapter four in worship, but in chapter five, because of what Christ has done, we become vital parts of this worship.

In verse 11, "Then I looked and I heard around the throne the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands upon thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor, glory and blessing.' And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.' And the four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshipped." This is where we are headed.

This is why he saved us. This is what he's trying to restore. When we think of heaven, we think of all the wildest dreams that we couldn't fulfill on earth. So if you're short, when you're in heaven, you're going to be tall. If you're poor, you're going to be rich.

If you have a small house, you're going to have a mansion. If you're unathletic, you're going to be a star player. And we imagine that whatever dreams that we couldn't fulfill here is going to be dreamt and fulfilled in heaven. That is not how the Bible describes heaven. The Bible describes as a place where we are, we join the hosts and angels to worship God.

That's where we're headed. What you and I could not do because of our sins, Christ transforms that so that we can draw near to him. Why does he tell us to draw near to him? It's not because your life is hard. It's not because without him, I have some illness that only God can fix.

I need to draw near to the throne of grace. Does it mean that God doesn't care about all of that? Of course he cares about all of that. When Israel was called to draw near to the tabernacle, what was it for? Was it because of your illness? Was it because you didn't have enough money?

When God told Israel to come to him, what was it for? To worship him. So when the scripture says that the gates of heaven has been opened to enter the throne of grace to draw near to him with confidence, it is a call to worship what you and I could not do in our sinful state.

Everything that we do is for the purpose of restoring God. It's not about you. And it's not about me. Now some of us may look at that and say, "Well, that sounds unfair." In any other context, if we say we glorify something, we mean we exaggerate. Only in the context of God do we see that that's orthodox and necessary.

Everything that he calls us to do is for the ultimate purpose of worship. But you have to understand it in the context of who we are and who he is. God created us not to be the object of worship, but to be worshipers. And that's what was broken when we sinned.

Instead of worshiping God, Romans chapter 1, it says we refused to worship him and we decided to worship the images made by human hands, ultimately to put us at the center instead of God. And ultimately, that's human rebellion. Instead of putting him as Lord, even sometimes in the church, we use him so that we could live.

It goes against everything about what the gospel teaches. Paul himself says in Philippians chapter 3, 2 to 10, again, this is another passage that you know very well. Look out for those dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh, for we are the real circumcision.

Look at what he says. Who worship God, who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. In other words, Paul is saying those guys think that they're worshiping God because of their circumcision, because of their background, because they're Jews and obeying the law.

All they are doing is mutilating their flesh. In other words, it's sacrifice for no benefit. We are the true worshipers, talking about Christians. But in verse 4, if you want to go head to head, if you're going to nullify me saying that, oh, maybe Paul is saying that because he wasn't an obedient Jew.

He says that's not the reason at all. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day, a people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless.

Paul was not exaggerating when he says this. That's exactly who he was. Paul either was already sitting in the Sanhedrin or he was very close to sitting in the Sanhedrin. He would have basically been one of the 70 senators of a whole nation of Israel. He was a Jew among Jews.

He was a Pharisee among Pharisees. He kept the law in his own recognition perfectly. So if you think that somehow that is going to cause you to be a better worshiper, and the reason why I'm going against that is because I wasn't a faithful Jew, that's not the reason at all.

Verse 7, "But whatever gain I had," and again, he's not talking about the world versus Christ. He's talking about Jews who are obeying the law, who are disciplined, who are sacrificing. "Whatever gain I had, I count as lost for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as lost because," and here's the reason, "in comparison to all the work that he did to be worshiper of God," he says, "I counted all as lost the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord." So all the work that he did to be a good Jew, to be a good worshiper, in light of meeting Christ, it became nothing.

It became rubbish. Now I want you to think about that. The very definition of worship requires inspiration more than determination because it requires your heart, it requires your devotion, it requires love. God is not calling us to people who didn't come to church to come to church. If you somehow read the Bible more than the other people, that if you sacrifice more, if you gave more, if you evangelize more, that you are a better worshiper.

Better worship begins when we are giving the highest value to God. And so that's what Paul is saying. With all the effort that he made to keep the law in comparison to when he met Christ became rubbish. Because he completely got transformed. That's exactly how the Bible describes non-Christians where the God of this age blinds the minds of the unbeliever so they do not see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Because when they are exposed to the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are changed, they are saved, they become new creatures. So he doesn't say he blinds them so that they are immoral and they do bad things. He says no, what initiates all of that is they do not see or understand the glory that is in Jesus Christ.

And that's why he says he was faithful to prove his faithfulness to Israel but in order that the Gentiles might come and give glory for what? For his mercy. The purpose of the gospel is to restore proper worship. And the reason why we evangelize is to bring people who have been separated from God so that they may worship.

Not people who didn't go to church to come to church. The purpose of it, people who didn't read the Bible to read the Bible. People who weren't generous to become generous. All of these are byproducts. But the end goal is proper worship. You notice here Paul says in verse 7, "But whatever gain I had I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered loss of all things. I count them all rubbish in order that I may gain Christ." Not only does he see Christ, not only does it transform him to be a better worshiper, that's all he wants.

Even if it means for him to die. He saw the worth of Christ in verse 10, "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, by all means that he may be a better worshiper." Paul is describing a man who is separated from God because of his sin and is properly restored to worship.

And that's what worship looks like. Worship isn't simply because we're determined. When we see the glory of who Christ is, you can't help to be changed. If you see Christ and then you place that on all the temptations in the world, the only thing that can save you from the temptation of the world is because you saw the glory of Christ and that was better.

And the world became rubbish in light of that. But if you don't see the glory of the gospel, you don't see the glory of his mercy, how will you fight the temptation to want to rest, to want to have nice things, to want to find peace, want to have all the things that the world is offering, all the things that the world is tempting, and you just are determined, "I'm not going to do it." And yet everything in your heart wants that.

You can't take your eyes off of that. You're dreaming about it. You're working for it. You're saving up money to get more of it. And then you come to church and then you're determined, "I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it." How long will that last?

There's a reason why the Bible says, "Don't make promises." You have no idea how strong your flesh is. The only power to save us from our sins is the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that is why the goal of our salvation is Christ. Not just to dabble in Christ, not just a marginalized version of Christ, but to be so consumed as Paul is sitting in prison saying, "I'm willing to die if I get more of Him.

I'm willing to suffer if I can have more of Him." He was tempted with Christ and everything else became rubbish in light of that. That's a picture of a true worshiper. Knowing Jesus was more important to him than anything else. And all that effort that he put in light of knowing Jesus was nothing.

That's why Jesus says at the end, He's going to separate those people and say, "Well, when were you in prison? When were you sick?" And the way Jesus describes the unbelievers, He says, "I never knew you." That's how He describes an unbeliever. "I didn't know you. You didn't know me.

I didn't know you." Salvation is described as a relationship with Christ, as cliche as it is. See, that's why it says in Isaiah 48, verse 9 through 11, "For my name's sake, I defer my anger." In other words, I show my mercy. "For my name's sake, for the sake of my praise, I restrain it for you that I may not cut you off.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it for how should my name be profaned. My glory I will not give to another." We may look at that and say, "Well, God is egotistical.

He tells us to be humble, not to be self-centered. And yet, when He describes Himself, He says, "I will not share my glory to another. Everything I do for my name's sake." In every other instance, when we say glorify, we mean to exaggerate something. But when we say we glorify God, we basically mean to display who He is.

And the reason why only God, only God of all beings that have ever been created, only God was meant to be the object of worship. Everything else that God created was for the purpose of giving worship. Whether it is the earth, whether it is the galaxy, whether it is the oxygen, the water, the animals, the plants, and in particular, human beings that He made in His own image and put His own breath in, our whole existence was for the purpose of giving Him the glory.

We were His image bearers. Nothing and no one else was made for the purpose of being worshipped. At the core of human rebellion is wanting attention. The way we dress, what we buy, what car we drive, why we work so hard, why we move into big homes, why we do everything that we do, if we're not careful, flies exactly the opposite of God's intention.

We want to be better. We want to move higher. We want to be recognized. So we study. We work. We sacrifice. All with hidden hope to touch some of that glory. And the end result leads to nothing but condemnation. God created us for the purpose of worship. The greatest damage that sin has done is that we couldn't worship.

Why do people, why do you and I pay hard-earned money to go to places and see things that are beyond you? People don't pay money to see middle-aged men play basketball. No one is inspired. Nobody. You watch them play and the first thought you have is, "I could probably do better than that." That's the thought.

So naturally, you're not inspired. You pay money to watch guys who are beyond your height, beyond your ability. They're jumping beyond your imagination. They're shooting through the ball like a magician. I mean, it's just, whatever it is, it is beyond you. And you're floored by it. You're awed by it.

Nothing as trivial as basketball or baseball because these guys are fantastic. You happen to like baseball and these guys hitting a 95 miles per hour, you know, fastball down the middle and hitting a home run. It's like, wow, because in your wildest imagination, that will never happen in your life.

Why do you pay money to travel to places where you have huge mountains and huge bodies of water to make you feel small? Why do we do that? Why do you feel alive when you're in the presence of something majestic that you can't possibly fathom imitating in any way?

Why do you pay money to be there? Why do you go and travel to far distant places so that you can just be in the presence of something beyond you and just be awed and that's it, and take nice pictures and put it on Facebook? Why does all of that make you happy?

Because at the core of who we are, God created us to be worshipers. And we feel alive worshiping trivial things. We're too easily amused. And Satan works hard to imitate his glory. And the world is easily amused, easily distracted, giving glory to man's creation rather than the God behind that.

That's what salvation ultimately is. No amount of talking, no amount of convincing, no amount of hard work would have saved us from the temptation of this world, from this imitation that Satan has created around us. Only a direct gaze at his beauty, only in the presence of his glory will everything else look rubbish.

There is no man. There is no system. There's no amount of money. There's nothing that human beings have created. No amount of human determination will separate us from this temptation other than the glory of the mercy of Jesus Christ. I've been a Christian for over 30 years, and I'm amazed even to this day, studying through Revelation and Leviticus and various parts of the Bible, how little I knew of his mercy.

I knew some. I knew bits and pieces. But every time I open the Bible, I see puzzles coming together. And it just floors me. I knew this, but I didn't really know. I've been talking about the love of Christ, but I've only been going an inch deep. I knew that he was merciful, but I didn't understand to what degree.

I knew I was sinful, but I didn't understand how deeply corrupt my heart was. And the more I dig, the more I understand, the more the gospel of Jesus Christ becomes glorious. And there is nothing in this world. Even as we talk about the love of moms over the children, every Mother's Day we talk about how mothers love their children, that's the closest thing that we can get to the love of Christ.

But the more I see the love of Christ, the love of moms does not compare. It's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. And the more I dig, the more I see, the distance becomes further and further. And the more I understand this, the more the world becomes foolish, so trivial, so stupid, so easily distracted, so easily consumed, so easily tempted, all because we've taken our eyes off of Christ.

To have the greatest gift, to have the greatest gift, to taste His goodness, to have confessed, to have opened the eyes to see His glory, and then to be amused with this world, there's nothing more foolish. And that's why the Bible talks about dogs returning to vomit, as grotesque as that is, in comparison to God's glory, and the best and the most beautiful thing that can be offered in this world.

In comparison, vomit seems like an understatement. That's why He concludes everything by saying, "May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace, and believing that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." See this hope, because of His mercy, leads to joy and peace.

How can He command us to be rejoicing? In 1 Thessalonians 5, 16, rejoice always. Philippians 4, 4, "Rejoice in the Lord always." Again, I will say rejoice. Because the word rejoice is used as an equivalent to live. He's not saying exist. I died for you so that you can exist.

He said I died for you so that you can live. Zoe. So the word rejoice is just another word for live. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting rejoicing. He wants us to live the great because rejoicing is at the core of worshiping.

Rejoicing and peace is the foundation in which we stand to worship. So you cannot worship God when you're not rejoicing. So when He says do not grumble, it's just another way of saying worship. God came to restore worship, to give hope, to give life, to give peace. The greatest witness to the world is not your ability to articulate the gospel, is not your generosity with money, is not the organization, is not koinonia, is not fellowship, is not community, because what the world lacks more than anything else is to be in the presence of God.

So the greatest witness that you and I can give to the world is worship. When non-Christians see a group of people where worship, hope, joy, and peace is restored, they immediately recognize that they don't have this. And that's what they are attracted to. So above everything else that you and I strive for, more than anything else, is there an affection for Christ at this root of your worship?

And I'm not talking about some charismatic experience, I'm not talking about some gnostic knowledge that only a few people have. What are you pursuing? Every Christian is a genuine Christian because he confesses that his eyes were opened to his glory. Is that something that you just confessed in the past?

Or is that something that drives you to worship? Is that just some doctrinal statement that you sign? Or is that what's compelling you to read your word, to pray, to be merciful? Let me conclude with the reading of this text in Isaiah 40, 26-31. Lift up your eyes on high and see.

Who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God?

In other words, that he doesn't care. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might, he increases strength.

Even youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Will you pray with me? I want to lead us in prayer and then our worship team will take over.

But would you close your eyes in prayer with me? Then after I pray, again, I encourage you guys to take some time to pray for yourselves.