Okay, good morning. Morning. Morning. Did you have your readers this morning? Okay. I have the privilege of sharing God's Word with you this morning and I have to say that I haven't done this in a while, coming up and preaching. And I really do appreciate in preparing this message.

I really do appreciate our pastors, I just want to say that because to come every Sunday to do this day, week in and week out, and to provide and provide good, expositive, you know, messages every week is hard to do. I can attest to that. It was a labor for me, just because, you know, what do you say and everything that goes with it.

But in any case, this morning I hope that some of this, that being prepared, that it was led by the Spirit and that in the end, you know, I feel inadequate up here to preach the Word of God. You know, I have to admit to you that, you know, when the thought of coming up and preaching, there's a flesh that comes in and I want to entertain you guys so that you would like me, you know, like my message and I get praised.

But I realize that is wrong and that's something that, you know, I have to fight with in myself in doing that. So again, I really appreciate our pastors. I know that they come and serve the church humbly and to come and preach up here is definitely a service to the church.

So I want to give props to our pastors, even our elders, you know, props to you guys. They're great men of God. I really admire them and see their love for the Lord and by challenge of them. So I will start. I've been tasked to review the fourth membership covenant, which states, "I commit to attending Sunday worship at BCC to the best of my ability." So if you think about it, all around the world, Christians are gathered on Sunday, like us, to give worship to God.

According to Wikipedia, so take it for what it is and I'm not saying it's accurate, but I think just to give a kind of a general idea, the number of people who are gathering on Sunday. There are 800 to a billion Protestant Christians around the world. If broken down by region, it would look like 300 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, 260 million in Americas, 140 million in Asia Pacific, 100 million in Europe, and only 2 million in mid-north Africa.

So obviously gathering on Sunday is an important Christian tradition, but like any tradition, it can be just that, a tradition. We come to church because we have always come to church. When I was young, before I became a Christian, I told myself that once I grew up that I would not attend church anymore.

And the reason for that is because my father is pastor, as most of you know, and as a result, I was attending church all the time, right? Since I was born, even before I was born in my mother's womb, I was attending church service. So church attendance for me was just something that I had to do.

Mostly in America, we went to a small church. So basically it was our family and maybe an elder's family, so the youth group was very small, not too much like the way we started here at Berean, right? So I told myself that I wasn't going to go because I didn't see the purpose behind it.

I didn't see the reason behind going. It didn't make sense to me because it meant nothing to me other than it was a tradition, something that I did, something that I had to do on Sunday mornings. So in the membership covenant, when it says I commit to attending Sunday worship, it means more than just being at church physically.

It means that we are committing to attendance, but also committing to understanding the reason for gathering together. Why do we gather on Sunday and not Saturday? The Sabbath day, doesn't the Ten Commandments say that we are to observe the Sabbath day? Exodus 28 says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath." Why do we sing songs and hear messages? Why do we gather as a congregation and not at home alone? So I'll try to address these questions in some part today. So at some point when Pastor Peter returns, so we're going to talk about Hebrews, right?

It might take a year or maybe longer or maybe shorter, that he will be expositing Hebrews 10, the passage I'll be spotting and talk about. So consider this as a shadow of what is to come. A better preacher, a better message is coming. So he's coming back. Okay, so he is coming back.

So let's begin by a word of prayer before we begin the message. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you, Lord God, for this morning as we gather together. We are not alone in gathering here, but we have millions and millions of other Protestant Christians, Lord God, coming together to give worship to you, recognizing and proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we proclaim who you are and what you've done on the cross.

We gather together for our own benefit as well, Lord, because we need that you called us, Lord God, as people of worship, Lord God, that we were made to worship you. So as we gather together this morning, that you would be with your servant, who is definitely inadequate to speak this message this morning, but I pray, Father, that you would work through the preparation and that we would all be blessed this morning, Lord God, by your word.

I want to thank you, Lord, and entrust the time to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So as a reminder, Hebrew is written to second or third generation Jewish believers who are thinking of going back to the old covenant ways and its sacrificial system. The book of Hebrews is an encouragement and a warning.

An encouragement to those who are being persecuted to persevere, because there was severe persecution going on, some because of the persecution, was falling back. This is also, the book of Hebrews is also a warning to those who are drifting and who have neglected the great salvation they have received.

They have forgotten the greatness of Christ's death and sacrifice on the cross and started to embrace the shadow instead of the real. The warning of drifting is a warning that is so relevant to us today, right? There's so much distraction around us, especially this time of the year, right?

We just got through Thanksgiving. Black Friday doesn't start on Friday anymore, right? It starts on Thursday, Thursday night. Black Friday is not enough, so we have Cyber Monday. Some of you are getting ready to do your Christmas shopping at work, right? So this is also a big movie time, a lot of big bluster movies, because people are spending money.

So the last Star Wars is coming out, right? The final trilogy before another one is made, right? You have Disney+ that came out, the streaming service, free seven-day trial. I got sucked into that, right? A lot of the parents, right? We got to see some Disney movies this holiday.

So if you're a sports fan, right, we have sports galore. You have the college football championships, you know, coming together. Who's going to play in the final four? NFL playoffs, right? Now football is becoming more, because the championships are coming, the playoffs are coming, right? And then some of you who play fantasy football, right?

The end is coming, you're going to win that championship, the little prize that you get, I guess, to say you're better than your friends. Lakers versus Clippers are coming this Christmas Day. I'm actually excited, right? Lakers finally, for a long time, is relevant. Looking forward to that. It's a great time of the year to be a sports fan, right?

And people are traveling to see family or going on vacation. If you love to ski, right, you're looking for that storm like we had and waiting to go up and put on your skis and hit the slopes. And I can go on and on and on, and there's nothing wrong with any of this.

However, they are all distractions, and if we are not careful, these things can cause us to drift. That's why are you not glad that in the sea of distractions that once a week we set aside Sunday to gather at the body of Christ to sing songs, hear God's Word, and fellowship with other believers.

It's a day of rest for us. So Elder Joe read the passage this morning, but I'd like to focus first on the first two verses of Hebrews 10, 19 and 20. "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh." So when we see the phrase, "since we have confidence to enter the holy place," it reminds the reader of Hebrews chapter 4 about entering his rest.

And Pastor Peter preached the sermon on Hebrews chapter 4, 1 through 10 about this rest in July, and it was very deep in theology. I hope many of you were blessed, and I commend you to continue to review that message, because it's rich and blesses the content really a blessing.

So this, the Hebrews chapter 4 is a reference to Genesis chapter 2, the rest, right, that occurred in creation. God in six days created the heavens and the earth, all of its worth, right? In Genesis 31, just before chapter 2, God makes all creation, he says, "it was very good." He looked at his creation, he said, "it was very good." And he set aside the seventh day to rest, and he blessed it and set it aside as being holy, right, as being holy.

But because of the fall, as Pastor Peter preached, because of the fall, the rest became restlessness. So the command of observing the Sabbath is given to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai through Moses. Sabbath, the word Sabbath doesn't come on in Genesis chapter 2. It first comes up in Exodus when the law is being given.

So we see the connection of the Sabbath and of Jesus Christ, right, when the law is given, the law is given to observe the Sabbath. So we see that the rest that is talked about in the Sabbath rest, the rest that is in Genesis chapter 2, is the rest that comes only through Jesus Christ.

Matthew 11, 28 to 30, it says, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I just want to make one statement here, that I gave my outline, and since I gave my outline, all the verses are there, but I might have moved it around, okay.

So I know somebody who follows along, okay, don't get freaked out, okay, if somehow the passages are moved around. Alright, so just in general the passages are there, don't freak out, but just hear the word, okay. So the Sabbath, like our Sunday, was a day of rest for the nation of Israel, but it was anything but rest, right.

Jesus is a rest, and because of the sin, there was restlessness in man. So Sabbath Sunday, although the command is to rest, there was no real rest for the nation of Israel. So under the old covenant with Israel, the Sabbath day was extremely strict. Not only was no work to be done by the Israelites and their children, they also were to give rest to all their household servants, livestock, even sojourners, right, sojourners, so visitors.

So if you think about it, if you're livestock and you're slaves and no one is to work, and think about the livelihood. For these people, this is their livelihood, that to take a break and to do no work is not easy, if you think about it. Because I'm pretty sure they're thinking about, "Oh, who's going to feed this, who's going to do that, how are we going to take care of this?" Maybe some of you who are busy at work, that's what you're thinking about.

Even though it's vacation, you can't take a break because there's work to do. So I liken this maybe to Chick-fil-A, that they close on Sunday. It's not an easy thing to do, but they do it and God has blessed them for it. So it's not easy to rest when there still is work to do.

So God even gave regulatory laws over what could and could not be done. For example, if one even went out to gather sticks on the Sabbath in order to kindle fire, he was to be put to death. So you're in the desert, it's cold, you need to warm up, you want to go out and you want to grab sticks.

Well, there was a guy who did that. He worked on the Sabbath and he was put to death. It seems very extreme. That was the old covenant. And I used to work for an Arab Jew when I was in college, and I remember coming to work on Saturday and he happened to show up.

He said, "I normally don't work on Saturday because it's the Sabbath." But he said, "Oh, I'm a bad Jew." And I said, "Why? Why do you call yourself a bad Jew?" And he said, "Well, you know, on the Sabbath there's about over 600 things I'm not supposed to do." So I said, "Okay, of the 600, how many do you comply with?" He said, "Two.

That's it. Not working on Saturday and maybe not eating meat on a particular day." So it's hard to do. There's all these regulations, right? Even though it was commanded to rest, there was no real rest. If Israel was commanded to rest on the Sabbath, but they could not because of all the laws and regulations they had to observe, and the penalty if they did not, so in the end, what was the purpose of the Sabbath?

So that takes us to our first point in the sermon, which is that the Sabbath was a reminder to Israel that sin separated man from God. And there's nothing more illustrative of this fact than the Day of Atonement. So the Day of Atonement was a central point of the book of Leviticus.

How do we know that? And during our Bible study on Leviticus, some of you are part of that, some of you are not, we learned that Leviticus is written in what's called a chiastic structure. And what the chiastic structure is, you kind of bookend, or you can kind of see it as a pyramid, that you start off and there's another bookend, and in the middle of another bookend there's a parallel passage, and in the end, the central point that does not have a parallel passage in the book is the main point.

And that's how the book of Leviticus is divided. So the ritual ceremonies are discussed in chapter 1 through 7, as well as 23 to 27, then priesthood 8 to 10, 21 to 22, purity 11 to 15, and 10 to 20. So it's kind of bookending. And then chapter 16, the Day of Atonement, is the only chapter there is no parallel to.

There's no parallel. So you see that the main point of the book of Leviticus is this day in chapter 16. So I don't want to spend too much time on this, but as a reminder of what we learned, I have some pictures to help us, I hope, to visualize the tabernacle, if that's up, if not.

Okay, there you go. So that was the tabernacle. Can I get to the next one? All right, so this is how the tabernacle is set up. So you have the altar, burnt incense, and the laver where they wash up. And then as soon as you go into the first tent in the Tent of Meeting, that's the holy place.

And then behind the second room is the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat is. That symbolizes the presence of God. So on the Day of Atonement, when it's talking about entering, and even the Hebrews, about entering his holy place, that is what it's talking about, being able to enter that room, in the presence of God.

So to get an idea what Israel had to do, so now in Leviticus, that talks about the law, the ceremonial religious law, and chapter 16 being the main focus, and the center, let me quickly go through what the high priest had to do. Because the high priest is the only one, once a year, who's able to enter in that room.

And even when he enters, he has no confidence that he's going to survive because of the separation between God and man because of sin. So the high priest, first of all, is to take a bowl and sacrifice it for his own sin, and even before that he had to prepare himself by washing, and also putting a special robe on.

So once he gets a bowl and gives a sin offering for the sins of himself and for his family, he's also to take a censer full of coals, a fire from the altar, two handfuls of sweet incense, beat in small and bring it inside the veil, so he would go inside the veil, put it on the fire before the Lord, so the smoke is rising.

He has to do that so that when the presence of God is there, that he is not killed, because he's not to view the face of God, right? Because he is so holy. So he has to do that for his own safety, basically. And all this is done to cover the mercy seat, right?

He takes the blood and he sprinkles it, the smoke is there, right? And then blood of the bowl is sprinkled with his fingers from the mercy seat on front of the east side seven times. See how intricate and accurate it is that if he does not follow the letter of the law, then his life is in danger.

And after that, he would take two goats, take them to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that's just before you get into the holy place. Lots are cast to see which goat is chosen to be the goat for the Lord. That's the one that's sacrificed for the sin, right, for the sins of the nation of Israel.

The other one is chosen as a scapegoat, specifically to Azazel. And the one that the law fell to the Lord is used for all for sin offering. And the same thing is done, the blood is taken, sprinkled, right, as the high priest did for his own, the blood of bowls.

He does that for the blood with the goat, right? Then afterwards, then he would take the scapegoat and pray over or put his hand over the goat and speak the sins of the nation of Israel, and then after that they would release it outside the camp, symbolizing sin being taken away from the nation, sin being atoned for.

And then in chapter, and then at the end, 29 to 34, it kind of summarizes the point and the purpose of the day of atonement. So in Leviticus 16, 29 to 31, this is what it says, read that, "This shall be a permanent statute for you in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month.

You shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native or the alien who sojourns among you. For it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you. You will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls.

It is a permanent statute." So in the summary of the day of atonement, it is a call, it is called the day of affliction, suffering in a sense. It is a day to be cleansed from their sin, for the sins to then, but it doesn't cover ongoing sins. It is a Sabbath of also a solemn rest, right?

And also, you see the word Sabbath here, it was a solemn rest of remembrance. So in the scripture, the Sabbath always looked back to the original creation. So if you think about it, at this point, especially on the day of atonement, looking back to the creation, Genesis chapter 2, and the rest God gave, right, commanded on the seventh day to rest, it really is a reminder of the fall, because they lost the communion, right?

Adam and Eve had communion with God. There was no reason to sacrifice animals to come before him, to come near to him, draw to him, but now because of the fall, Sabbath has become a reminder of what had happened. It also is a foreshadowing, right, of the coming Messiah who will restore them to the original state that they were, they had with the Lord.

That is why in Hebrews 10 it says, "For the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year, make perfect those who draw near." So the whole purpose of the day of atonement was the ability for sinful Israel to be drawn near to God, and only the high priest is able to do it once a year, only after killing a bull, taking its blood for his own sins and his family, and also killing a goat, and spreading the blood, and cleansing, and atoning for the nation of Israel, then he could enter, not in confidence, but in fear, because if he did not follow every part of the law, he was going to be killed.

And that is to the extent Israel could have a relationship with God, right, other than the law itself. So but in this day was repeated over and over and over, it was a perpetual covenant with God that they were to do this every year. So if the atonement is a reminder of sins to cover the sins that they've committed, and if you have to do this every year, what does that say?

It means that it's inadequate, right, that we continue, that sin is always in our lives, that we are sinners, so that's why it is a shadow of what was to come, which was Jesus Christ. So the sacrifices of animals and all the ceremony system was a shadow of what was to come, which is Jesus Christ.

The yearly ritual of the Day of Atonement could not make perfect those who came near. The curtain was closed for them, they could not enter God's rest by the Old Testament sacrificial system. They could not enter God's rest by the Old Testament sacrificial system. If it could make perfect those who come near, then there would have been no need for more sacrifices.

It would have been it. But it was a continual, continual ceremony, continual thing that they had to do. And because it could not, the Day of Atonement and the Sabbath was a reminder of sins year by year, that is why Christ had to come. So next point. So Jesus inaugurated a new and living way.

Jesus inaugurated a new and living way because the old system was inadequate. So it was a foreshadow of coming Christ. So when Hebrew writer says he takes away the first in order to establish the second, he's not saying that Jesus nullifies or abolishes the Old Covenant. And that might be maybe the thought that you have, or we might have, but that is not the case.

Even though the law brought death, but the intent of the law was good. But because of the sin in man, it only brought to light the sin in us. And Romans discusses that, right? The law was there to bring about the sin in us because we were sinners. So Jesus said, because he was criticized, are you coming to abolish the law?

But this is what Jesus says in Matthew 5, 17 to 18. Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished.

So God was going to establish a new covenant through Jesus Christ, a covenant that is not about rules and regulation, but one where the law is fulfilled in us because it is written in our hearts. In Jeremiah 31, 33, this is after the nation of Israel is taken, right, sacked by the Babylonian Empire.

The temple is destroyed and God prophesies through Jeremiah and this is what he says. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days because of the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

They will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know me. From the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.

Sin and judgment, God prophesies mercy, God prophesies redemption. By one offering, Jesus Christ perfected for all time those who are sanctified. What the continual yearly sacrifice that was done on the day of atonement could not do what Jesus by his one sacrifice paid, the price for sins and purchased forgiveness of sin.

So also the Sabbath was a shadow of what was to come. So once Christ came, the true and living rest, Pastor Peter talked about the true and living rest that he was the rest. Observance of the Sabbath was no longer needed. So once Christ came, he fulfilled the law as a result, he fulfilled the requirement of the Sabbath, then we are no longer under the Sabbath, right?

Sabbath law. So in Colossians 2.16 says, Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

This is why we do not meet on the last day of the week, like the seventh day Adventists do because Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath in himself. So this brings us to our next point, why Christians have service on Sunday and not Saturday. So the point is, and I put an exclamation when he is alive, I wanted to scream and put the emphasis because how important it is, right?

This is the excitement of coming together on Sunday. We have to think about what happened on Sunday that those Jews who are meeting together, right, religiously, literally, on Saturday change their service and gathering to Sunday. So one of the problems with the old covenant priesthood was that the high priest would die because they were human beings, right?

Their days were numbered, and I love the way the Hebrew writer puts it in Hebrews 7.23. The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing. Hebrew says we have a greater priest because the high priest died and as a result could not continue as a result of death, but instead we have Jesus Christ who lives forever.

So the fact that he was resurrected tells us that he is able to save for eternity, which the high priest in the old covenant system was not able to do. So because he lives, he is able to save us. Put it another way, if Jesus was not resurrected from the grave, we would still bear the guilt and penalty of our sins.

So we gather to worship on Sunday because Jesus was resurrected on Sunday. Let's turn to Luke 24, examine the greatness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, okay? On Luke 24, "But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

And they found the stone rolled away for the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, 'Why do you seek the living one among the dead?

He is not here, but he has risen.'" Right, on Easter we gather together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ because of its significance. So I want to quote John MacArthur on this passage and what he says about it. "Very early in the morning that the Lord is risen and he is alive, which means that he has accomplished redemption on the cross.

He has been raised for our justification, he has conquered sin and death and hell. He has borne our sins in his own body on the cross, been made sin for us, and he has risen from the dead in triumph." Second Corinthians 520, "He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God." The day of resurrection is why we gather on Sunday to celebrate the greatness of Jesus Christ because everything that the old covenant symbolized, the shadow, was realized on the day of resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important event in history. Think about it. The world denies it, that it ever happened. But you know what? It is our testimony and the testimony of the church, of the living God, that confirms his resurrection. Jesus is risen and now sits at the right hand of God because his work has been completed.

There's no more work to do and that is the symbolism of somebody who sits down. The priest had to continually work because there's so much sin, there's so much work to do in sacrifices, covering up sin, but Jesus Christ by his one sacrifice finished. So when he was crucified, what did he say?

It is finished. So every time the church gathers on Sunday, we proclaim the resurrection of Christ to the world. So at the beginning of the message, I've read somewhere, not at the beginning, but I've read somewhere that some people say that we worship on Sunday because it was kind of a counter to a pagan holiday.

But instead, there's evidence to show that the early believers, early Christians, started gathering on Sunday and not on Saturday. So this was happening soon as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So in Acts 27, it says, "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged the message until midnight." So this is the story where Paul on his third missionary journey is traveling through and he is gathering together at Troas, I believe, and then it says, "On the first day of the week they're meeting because his message was so long there was a guy who dropped and he died, right, fell off the window, he brought him back to life." But that shows that they were gathering on the first day.

And this was, you know, Paul by this time was ministering, what, 20, 30, 40 years in ministry by this time. In 1 Corinthians 16, 1 to 2, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also on the first day of every week.

Each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come." So it makes sense if you're going to collect, right? Paul was collecting money for poor churches, mainly in Jerusalem, and he says, "When you gather on the first day of the week," which is Sunday, "collect." So they were gathering on Sunday, the first day of the week.

And also in Acts 2, 1-4, this is about the Pentecost, it says, "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place." And the day of Pentecost is when the Spirit is given, right? Jesus said, you know, "Stay," Acts 1a, "until the Spirit has come upon you and given you power." So Pentecost means 50.

So it's 50 days from the start, the Sabbath, of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So if you go seven weeks, that will take you to 49 days, rest of another Sabbath, so one more day after that is a Sunday. So we see that they were gathering on Sunday. So gathering on Sunday is not a random occurrence.

We gather on Sunday to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus and all that it symbolizes. We gather for our own purposes as well, for our own encouragement. So what about the question, "Why do I have to come to church to have service with other people?" Okay, we could have it on Sunday, but why with other people?

Why can't I do it at home by myself as long as I am doing it on Sunday? If this is you, this type of attitude is contrary to the teaching of Scripture. Let me ask you this question, do you have a personal relationship with Jesus or do you have a corporate relationship with Jesus?

And before you answer it, in other words, if you do not have a relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ, then you do not have a relationship with Jesus because it is so integral that our relationship with Jesus, that it is through the Church, right? When we are baptized into Christ, we are baptized into His body, His Church.

And this is what the Bible teaches us. So this brings us to the next point, that is that Jesus called us to a gathering. That Jesus called us to a gathering. In 1 Peter 2, 4, 5, and 9, it says, "As you come to Him, a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious.

You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house." So we as the Church are being built up because the door is open now for those who are elect, those who do not know Him yet, can come into the Church and be built up to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Verse 9, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession. So very precious to our Lord, for what purpose that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." So when He called us, He called us to the body, right, which is being built up, the Church.

So the definition of the Church is, the word itself is ecclesia, right? And ecclesia means a gathering of citizens called out from their home into some public place, an assembly. So the fact that we are a Church means that it's a place of gathering of believers. And Paul's letters were written to local churches in a particular region.

It says, you know, "To the church of Philippi," or "To the church of," it doesn't mean to the universal church, but it's the church gathering in a particular location. So we are called as believers to worship and express our calling in the local church setting, to gather. So we are the body of Christ, so we are baptized into His body, and we are members of His body.

So in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, 12 to 13, "For just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit." So some are a pinky, some are a hand, some are other parts of His body, but we are all essential.

And I love what Pastor Mark talked about and said, that we are like pillars, that we are essential. So when you do not come to church, it makes a difference. So what about, I'll come to church on Sunday with other people, some I don't like, but I'll do it, but I'm just going to be an observer.

I'm going to come on Sunday, I'll commit to that, but I'm just going to come and be an observer. Are we to be just an observer in the church? Obviously you know the answer, that is no. So the next point is that God expects us to live out our Christian lives in the local community.

So we are to proclaim the excellencies of Him, right, who called us, and we are to do it in the local body, the local community. So verse 25, focusing on verse 25, it says, "Not to neglect to meet together," this is reference to the local church, as we gather as a local church, "not to neglect meeting together." So we are baptized into the universal church, but our membership in the body of Christ is expressed in the local church, right?

So for us it is at Borean Community Church, it is in the local church that we exercise our gifts for the edification of the body. So I hope all this does not sound like an obligation, that I have to come every Sunday, I have to miss important events like vacation or other commitments, because I'm committed to church.

Sunday was given to us as a gift, and let us think that way when we come on Sundays. I am encouraged every Sunday when I am at church with fellow believers. Throughout the week, even Bible study is different. I feel like when we come on Sunday, that I am personally encouraged, when I am of the right mindset and heart and know what this day represents, on Sunday, that I am always filled and encouraged.

That Sunday is for our benefit, that you think that it's a gift for our encouragement, because the last point, we were made for corporate worship. Think about it, we were made for corporate worship. Read Hebrews chapter 12 and just set this up. This is a comparison between Mount Sinai, where the law was given to the nation of Israel.

This is a description of God and the people's reaction to God's presence when they drew near to him at Mount Sinai, representing the old covenant. And this is what it says, "For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, and to a blazing fire, and to darkness, and gloom, and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.

For they could not bear the command, if even a beast said, 'I am full of fear and trembling.'" This was the old covenant, this was their Sabbath. The Sabbath under the law was not rest, but a reminder of sins, of the fall, and of judgment. In Christ, we are under a new covenant of grace.

The original rest Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden has been restored in Christ through, though not fully, until we either die or after Christ returns. Now the contrast drawing near to God at Mount Sinai to drawing near to God at Mount Zion, the city of God, is this, "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, to heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the Judge of all, and to the Spirit of the Righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant." The picture here is the entire church is gathered in heaven.

God is there, Jesus is there, myriads of angels, believers who have passed away and now are in heaven. The church is still growing, we are being built up. So I shared at the start of this message that there are 800 million to about a billion Protestants gathering on Sunday, giving praise to God.

This does not include the myriad and myriads of angels and those believers who have gone before us, gathered together on Sunday, worshiping and celebrating what Jesus did on the cross. Think about it. We only see ourselves here, but on this day, there are millions of people on earth that are worshiping God.

But not only that, heaven is stirred, that the angels and the elders, in the presence of God and Jesus, is also worshiping with us, that we are called to worship. That Sunday is not a day that is just a day, but it's a day that represents the resurrection of Jesus Christ and all that it represents, that we are proclaiming His resurrection when we gather, that we are not the only ones praising and lifting up our voices, but there are millions of other Christians, as well as heaven, angels are proclaiming worship to God.

And this is what Martin Luther says about corporate worship. At home in my own house there is no warmth or vigor in me, but in the church when the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its way through. We are made to worship, that Sunday is for our benefit, because we are made to worship our heavenly Father who created us.

So if we are not gathering and not worshiping together, then we are missing something in our walk with the Lord. We are members of Christ's body, which is growing and being built up. Once all the elect are gathered, Christ will return. So in Revelations, I'm almost at the end, here's a depiction of what worship will be like in heaven.

We'll read this together. If this does not get you excited and juiced up, you don't want to be in heaven, because this is what we are going to do. Sunday gathering is the closest thing to heaven, if you really think about it, that we get on earth. When we are saved, the whole idea of here and not yet.

So here we experience and taste the flavor of being in heaven, as we gather together, until the fullness is realized in Jesus Christ when he returns. So Revelations 5, 11-14, "Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, basically probably a sea of heads.

And there is no end, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.'" So Sunday worship is the closest thing to a taste of heaven that we will get.

At the man's prayer or man's breakfast list prayer meeting, okay, although we ate very well thanks to our loving sisters, I shared my experience at my first Shepherds Conference. You know, Shepherds Conference is held at Grace Community Church and it's really for pastors and elders. So I don't think, you know, women, okay, don't get offended, but I don't think women generally are not to be at the main service because it's for pastors, for men.

So I was there for the first time and I think it holds about 3,000 or more people and we were praising. Everybody was standing up. These were old men, you know, you look at me, I'm old, right? They were older than me. They were old guys. They were pastors who have ministered, right, in ministry, suffered for years, persevered.

Some of them probably pastored larger churches. Some of them pastoring small churches. Some of them are struggling because, you know, ministry is tough. But 3,000 men who have experienced personal relationship with God, know Him in an intimate way because they walked the walk, were gathered together and singing a song.

I think it was just a piano. There was no guitar, no drums. It was just a piano and you hear the voices of this men, 3,000, singing a hymn. And I have to say my soul was so filled, so filled. It was like a buffet for my spiritual soul when hearing them.

And to me that looked like the closest thing to heaven that I would experience. I was in awe because I knew that every one of those pastors, every one of those men, when they were singing, they meant it. They were not here just clapping because there's something on the screen and they got to say it and somebody next to them is looking, so they got to do it, right?

Instead they didn't care. They were looking and they were thinking of Jesus. They're thinking of the time when they are going to be in heaven and see Him face to face and praising Him. So our Sunday worship is a time that we can experience heaven, taste of heaven. But it really depends what your attitude is, right?

If you come to Sunday worship because you're dragged here, you had a bad morning or that the night before you did something you weren't supposed to do, you feel very guilty in coming, burdened by sin, you slept, you know, you didn't sleep all night. You know, if it was for studying for your finals, that's one thing, but it was for something else, you feel guilty.

How can you experience the benefit and the grace and the mercy and the love and all that resurrection of Jesus Christ means to us on Sunday, right? So I come to the end of my message. It would be great if I could just end here, we are all encouraged, but there's also a part where we have to talk about the application of this.

What does it mean, right? I'm going through the covenant, the fourth covenant that I commit to coming Sunday service at BCC to the best of my ability. So looking at verse 25 of Hebrews chapter 10, so when the Hebrew writer was writing this letter, I wonder if he paused at verse 25, I wonder if he paused there and was thinking to himself, okay, I'm going to call out some people, but do I need to do it?

Do I really need to do it? Do I need to point out the sins of others? And I feel the same way because in calling out some of the, you know, some of, you know, maybe the deficiencies, you know, no one wants to do it, but I realized it needs to be done.

So I am going to address a couple of issues that one, regarding the idea or the question of do I have to come to Sunday every Sunday? Do I have to come every Sunday? And the other is in a general sense and also a couple of specific things. In a general sense regarding coming and committing to coming on Sunday, you know, I can't come because of this or that.

It's hard to say, okay, on this you can, on this you can't, this is not good or not. But if you look at verse 25, it is calling out those people who, it says, not forsaking our own assembly together as is the habit of some. So the word habit here, in other, the same Greek word in other passages, it means custom, right?

It means custom. So here is a group of people who are not gathering, who are neglecting to gather, and it had become a habit, right? So I say to those that a habit is something that is done on a regular basis, that there are some who regularly miss the Sunday service and it does not, you know, pass you by or it's nothing.

So that is the people who Hebrews 25 is talking about, that if missing Bible studies or Sunday service is a regular thing in your life, that when people look at you, they almost assume, okay, I can't rely on this person because I know he's very non-committed to this, then this passage is calling you out and that you are in danger of drifting.

If that is a regular pattern in your life. So that's a general sentence. A more specific sense is we have live streaming. We have live streaming that happens and we do it for the convenience of people who cannot come to Sunday service, who cannot come here physically just because you're sick, you're injured.

This year, I had my gallbladder removed and I could not come to Sunday service. So streaming it was a great benefit, right? It was great that I could sit. But I think just looking at the rise of the number of people who are streaming, that maybe it's becoming a little too relaxed for some people that you could come but because either you're tired or that you are for other reasons.

For you, I am saying you are missing out on coming because on Sunday, we are made to gather and worship. And being here is different than being even sitting somewhere else. I know that it can easily be a habit of, you know, if your child is sick, to have both parents, right?

Go out, but that's why I said to the best of your ability, right? To the best of your ability. To call out specifically, it's going to seem very legalistic, but it is an attitude of coming, an attitude of understanding. I said the idea of we commit to Sunday service is that we are committing to understanding what Sunday is about and then give it the props that it deserves, that as members that we are giving Sunday worship all the props that it deserves, right?

He said the world looks at the resurrection of Jesus Christ and they don't believe it, but it is the church gathering on Sunday is the one who's proclaiming it. So if you are not here, you're missing out on corporate worship, missing out on the blessing, taste of heaven. So I encourage you to the best of your ability that you attend as much, as best as you can Sunday service.

I hope that doesn't bum you out, but with that, let me pray and we'll end our service.