If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews 9.11-14. Hebrews 9.11-14. Reading out of the NASB, "But when Christ appeared as a high priest to the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation.

And not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a high fir sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." Let's pray.

Christian loving Father, we pray that Your Word would go forth, will not return until You have accomplished what You have ordained for it. I pray that You would soften our hearts, open our ears, Lord God, that we may hear from You and You alone. May Your Word have its impact that You've desired from us and let it be ordained according to Your Spirit.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you've been watching the news at all, and I highly encourage you to follow the international news and what's going on with especially in the Christian community. I think in the last two to three years, the uptick in persecution, whether it is in the Middle East or India or China, I think most people who've been paying attention, have been Christian for a while, will agree that persecution has been increasing exponentially everywhere.

But this is not just what's going on internationally, it's happening locally. And so all the more we need to be paying attention, because there's going to come a time, if not pretty soon, where nominal Christianity is not going to be an option. Just like in China now, they made an official edict that in the churches they have to hang a picture of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping, and to acknowledge them as their ultimate authority or else they're not going to get social help from the government.

And so they made that clear, and again the persecution has been increasing there, but more and more we see signs of that beginning to happen in the United States. So this casual church attendance, I think at some point, is going to go out the door. People who just grew up in the church and happen to go to church will be forced to make a decision where you stand.

And nominal Christianity will not, I think, when persecution comes, is not going to be an option. One of the benefits of persecution causes Christians, whether nominal or true, to ask the question, "Where do I stand with Christ?" It causes us to count the cost. Again, you and I live in a generation where the churches have worked extra hard to make it as easy as possible for as many people to come to church.

And as a result of that, the gospel has been watered down. Anything offensive, anything that doesn't sit right, anything that goes against our culture has been, the sharp edges have been taken out. So we have masses of people who are attending churches and have never really asked the question, "Do I really believe this?" And when the Bible tells us to count the cost, we have churches filled with people who have never seriously considered that.

And so the benefit of persecution, persecution forces us to take a step back and take a hard look at what it is that we believe, what are the consequences of our belief, and causes us to make a stand. Do I believe this or do I not believe this? The reason why I say all of this is because the book of Hebrews is written in that same spirit.

The first generation of Christians, they didn't know what Christianity was and all they knew was there's something new swept the land and all of a sudden there's this hope of eternal life and if you believe in Jesus Christ, you're going to have eternity secure. So there was some pushback from the secular world, there was some pushback from the Jewish community, but for the most part, it was just something new and novel.

And so this church that the author is writing to, initially was excited. Initially they participated in this growth, but now about 20 to 30 years removed from that, Nero's persecution most likely is in full swing and some of the leaders are being beheaded, crucified. People are being dragged into the Colosseum and in the midst of that, some of them were beginning to slide back into their old life.

Now they didn't outright deny Christ. They didn't say, "You know, we don't believe this." They were trying to synchrotize their past with the new things that they were learning. And so the whole point of what he says about Jesus being superior to angels, to Moses, to the sacrificial system, he's the greatest high priest, he has better sacrifice, better tabernacle, all of it is to really ask the question, "Are you going to follow Christ?

Are you going to drift back into the world?" The text that we're looking at, even though it is not stated in the form of a question, but that's actually what he's doing. He's asking the question. Now that there are serious consequences for being a Christian, is Jesus better than whatever it is that you are placing your hope in?

So there's three things that I want to highlight in what he says today. Verses 11 and 12, he's really asking that question in a statement form. He's asking the question, "Is Jesus better than anything that you have?" Number two, Jesus is better because he delivers us from empty works, from dead works.

Verses 13 and 14. And then verse 14, Jesus frees us to serve the living God. Those are the three things that we want to be looking at this morning. So the first thing that he says in verse 11 and 12, that Jesus is better high priest. He's the better sacrifice in a better tabernacle.

Now we didn't practice the tabernacle. We're not from the Jewish community, so we may look at that and say, "Well, that's good to know, but I don't know if there's any practical application here because we never struggled with the tabernacle being better." But if you understand why the tabernacle was created in the beginning, the whole purpose of the tabernacle and the sacrificial system was to do two things.

Is to reveal man's sin. So that we would know that God is holy and that we would know how sinful we are. So that sin would become utterly sinful. And then two, to point to the only solution to our sins is the atonement of Jesus Christ. So it was created for those two reasons.

To teach us who we are and who God is, and then to give us a solution in Jesus Christ. But by the time that this is being written, the tabernacle became nothing more than religion. Now at the core of every community, if you go back and if you travel anywhere in the world, if you go back 30, 40, 50 years, and it may be in some cultures even to this day, you'll see what religion means to most people.

I remember the first time I went to China, I think it was in 1991. Oh, was it '93, I think, right? I went and we were traveling the Silk Road for about 30 days and almost every single day we were in a new city. We were on a train to go to the western side, to the southern side, the northern side, and outside of the major cities like Beijing or to Shanghai, we would go to these obscure cities that usually tourists don't go to.

And every city that we went to, we would eventually end up at some Buddhist temple. And by the time we were about 15 days into it, I was so sick of it. We would travel miles and sometimes we would be on a train for 20, 30 hours and we'd get to the end and we'd walk up this hill and it said, "This is called 100 Buddha Temple." And exactly what it is.

They have 100 Buddha in this temple. And I said, "Oh, great." And then we would go to another train and we'd get to the other side of China and then we'd walk and get up to the top of the hill. This is called a 1000 Buddha Mountain because they carved a 1000 Buddhas up on this mountain.

Then we go to another city and we hike up to the highest hill and we get up way up in the top, two, three hours of hiking. This is called the Buddha's Highest Heaven Temple. So about 15 days of this, I got so sick of this. And I started to think, "Why was this so important?" Like everything that they did centered around Buddha because it was a Buddhist culture.

If you traveled in any amount, most cultures, if you go back in history, whether it is a Buddhist culture, whether it is an Islamic culture, whether it is a Hindu culture, religion is not just a part of their life. It affects their diet. It affects what they wear, where they live, what they hope for, everything that they do.

And at the core of religion is if we appease this God, we can get his blessing so that our farm will grow, we would have more children, that we would be healthy, wealthy, and that we could progress and we can get ahead in life. So no matter what religion it is, it was their avenue to be successful in this world.

Now whether that's Buddha or Islam or whatever religion, at the base of it is, if your goodness outweighs your badness, you're going to get good things. By the time of Christ, the temple and the tabernacle became nothing more than an avenue for them to tap into this God so that they can have God's blessing.

So when they were saying "Shalom" to one another, "Peace," they were saying, "Well, if we obeyed the law and if we went to the temple and gave enough sacrifice, and if our goodness outweigh the badness, that God is going to bless us." They completely missed the mark. Now we can hear now, you know, say, "You know, we don't live in a necessarily a religious culture." You know, at best we live in a post-Christian culture.

But it's not a religious culture, it's a secular culture. But in a secular culture, our avenue to get what we want has changed. We may not go to Buddha and light incense, or we may not be Hindus, but the avenue in which to get there is no different. A lot of people come to church for the same reason.

That if I do enough right things, that maybe God will bless my business, my life, my children. Or we may think that maybe if we get the right president, maybe if we change the culture, maybe if we change this and change that, my life would be better. So we may not have physical idols, but whatever it is that we are pursuing, that through that somehow we're going to get a better life.

We may not have a specific name for that, other than secularism or materialism, the idol is still the same, because the idol is worshipped for the purpose of getting something good out of it. See, the tabernacle became nothing more than religion to these Jews. And so they were beginning to drift back because now it seemed like if they continued to follow Christ, they would actually forfeit something meaningful.

Maybe even their life. And as a result of that, they were kind of drifting back and they weren't denying Christ. They were trying to combine the two. Maybe a part of Judaism where they came from, and then to retain some of the gospel that they had. And it is in the middle of that, and this is the reason why he keeps saying over and over again, "Jesus is better than the angels.

Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus is better than the high priest. He's better than the tabernacle." And at the end of the day, he's asking the same question over and over and over and over again. Is Jesus better than your pursuit? Is Jesus better than your comfort? Is Jesus better than whatever it is that brings joy in your life?

Is Jesus better than your family? Is Jesus better than your children? Is Jesus better? Because anything that we place between us and God is an idol. And that's why he says, "Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come." He doesn't promise that if you follow Christ, that if you sacrifice now, if you do good things now, great things are going to happen to your children.

That if you come to church and serve and give enough, that if you started a business, that it's going to take off. That whatever struggles that you have, if you appease this holy God, that you're going to have a better education, find a better job, find a better husband, find a better wife.

It doesn't promise that. In fact, some of the most godliest people live miserable lives following Christ. You may be the most faithful Christian and get cancer and die the next day because our long life is not promised in Christ. You can pursue God, be the most faithful Christian, give the most, serve the most, sacrifice the most, and in the eyes of the world, live a tragic life and die.

Because it is not promised. He said, "Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come." And the good things he's talking about is not necessarily this life. They're godly people who are beheaded because they follow Christ. Apostle Paul was an aristocrat. He was actually famous before he met Christ.

And as a result of following Christ, he became a tent maker. Every city that he went, he was driven out, went to prison, then ultimately beheaded. His life was miserable because he followed Christ. Now then, why would anybody follow Christ? If a good life here is not promised in the Gospel, why would anybody follow Christ?

Only people who would genuinely follow the Christ of the Bible is a person who believes that good things are coming. That is not here. If the payoff is here, then it's nothing more than religion. Nothing more than how the Jews view the tabernacle. It is nothing more than the Buddhists who are building 100 temples because the more that they go there, they're going to get blessing from God.

You may call him Jesus, but Jesus has become another idol to get what we want. And it is in that context, he says he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not to reconcile us here but in heaven. He entered the holy place once for all and obtained eternal redemption.

He says this term over and over again, once for all. He died for us once for all. It's final, it's complete. Why does he emphasize that? Because our temptation to continue to drift back into our idols is constant. You may commit one day and then be tempted the next day.

And we are constantly in need or wanting and tempted and coveting something else. And that's why every time we hear about Jesus's atonement, it emphasizes it is done once for all. It is not through Jesus you are looking for something else. Jesus is not strengthening us so that we can get something else.

But when you have come to Christ, you have come to the end of the road. There's nothing more to seek. That's why he says once for all permanently. You know, years ago, I think it's been about 12 years, we were doing our membership class or our BCC class. And we had a Hindu lady who came to church and started attending this class.

And we teach doctrines about God, Christ, Holy Spirit, about the inerrancy of scripture. And so we're going through these doctrines and she sat through all of it. And then, you know, we were hearing that she wanted to become a member. So we got excited, you know, that a Hindu lady was committed Hindu all her life and all of a sudden she wants to give her life to Christ.

And so we were trying to interview and talk to her. And in the process of talking to her, we realized that she wasn't converting at all. You know, so initially we asked this, oh, so you want to follow Jesus Christ? And she says, yes. Oh, so you're going to denounce your Hindu faith?

She said, no. And so we're confused. What does that mean? I said, well, you know, I, you know, like it's very intriguing and all I like Christians. Christians are very friendly, you know, and then when I come to church and everybody's so happy and so I want to be a part of that.

So I wanted Jesus too. So in her mind, she was basically adding Christ to all the other idols so that she can have all the other things that all the other idols promise and then to have what the Christians have by following Jesus. So all she did was add Christ to the idols that she was already following.

Sad to say Christianity looks very similar to that in many circles, in many Christians. They've never left their old life. They've never abandoned their idols. All they've done is added Christ. That maybe if I add Christ, you know, all these other things that I can do to live a better life.

And then I want assurance that if I die, I'm not going to hell. And it's nothing more than adding Christ as an idol to the existing idols they follow. And again, it is in this where he says over and over and over again, is Christ better? Is he better than what you pursue?

Is he better than your comfort? Is he better than whatever it is that you're shooting for or hoping for? If your life turns miserable and you have Christ, will it be enough? Whatever it is that you're pursuing, you don't get it. And at the end of your life, you live a difficult, hard life, and yet you have Christ.

Is that enough? I know this is something that we ask up in the pulpit. Pastors ask this up in the pulpit. Is this something that you only hear up in the pulpit once a week or at Bible study? Or is this something that you ask yourself in your daily life?

What you are pursuing? Do you ask yourself, am I genuinely following Christ? Is he enough? Because he who drinks of the water that the world gives, he says he will thirst again. If you eat of the bread that this world gives, you will hunger again. He who drinks of the water and eats of the bread that only Christ can give, he will no longer thirst and he will no longer hunger.

Do you believe that? He may not phrase it in those words, but basically that's what he's saying repeatedly over and over in every single chapter, at every conclusion, of every Christology that he's stating in the book of Hebrews, he's asking the same question. Is Jesus better? He's not asking, is Jesus good?

They all would have said, Jesus is good. He's asking, is Jesus better? Is he the best? That's the first thing that he says, right? At the end and conclusion, which is a question that every Christian needs to be able to answer. Because especially now, if we're not anchored in Christ, the tides are pushing us away.

And if we're drifting or we're just thinking like we're just going to casually just kind of sit on our boat, the tide is violently taking us away from Christ. We need to anchor in Christ and to be able to answer this question with an emphatic yes. When persecution comes, it's not here yet.

People snickering and not liking you, that's not persecution. Those are signs of it coming. When persecution comes, if you are not anchored, you will not stay in place. Secondly, he is better because he delivers us from dead works. In verse 13, it says, "For if the blood of goats and bulls and ashes of high for sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh." In other words, it has some value.

What they were doing had some value because it allowed them to enter into the tabernacle. And they were able to come and give sacrifices because they cleansed themselves and went through this ritual. But outside of that, he says, it does nothing. Because the whole point of the tabernacle was to demonstrate to them that they are not able.

In Hebrews chapter 6, 1-2, he says, "Therefore, leaving the elementary teachings about Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works. And the faith toward God, of instruction about washing and laying down of hands and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." In other words, this religious activity of thinking that if we serve enough, if we give enough, if we sacrifice enough, is that all of these things of the old covenant, it's dead.

It's no longer useful. Just like if you've been driving a car, you know, if you drove it for 10 years, I mean, you milk that car, right? And then you want to buy a new car. Nobody buys, you know, pays money to buy a car that has 400,000 miles on it.

Maybe some of you do, right? But if you say, if you have 400,000 miles on it, it's like, wow! You know, that thing went a long time. You don't expect it to go to another 400,000 miles, right? I know somebody after service is going to come up and say, oh, I have a car that's 500,000 miles.

You know what I'm saying, okay? You don't buy because you know it's about to die. So what he's saying is the tabernacle was given in order to show who God is and ultimately point to Christ. But now that Christ is here, it is useless. That all that you were doing in the tabernacle, it is passed away.

It has no function anymore. That's why the temple was destroyed. God allowed it to be destroyed because it had no use for it anymore. And in the same way, now that Christ has come and has redeemed us, he says the dead works are behind us. Now, we can say, you know, I've never been to the tabernacle.

I've never given sacrifices, so this is not relevant to me. At the core of who we are, at the core of who we are, because we are born in this world, we have a works-based righteousness embedded deeply inside of us. Because ever since you are born, you are taught to be independent.

So if you have a child and you're raising it, we have markers, right? By the time they're one, those of you who raise children, by the time they're one, what are they supposed to do? You guys remember? Usually around one is when the kids start walking. So parents get nervous.

Some kids walk at 10 months, some kids walk a little bit later than that, but around one, they say, oh, that's when they start walking. And by the time they're about two is when they're starting to formulate words. They'll put two words, three words together, or some of them are a little bit faster, some of them are a little bit slower, but there's these markers.

They get to a certain point, they start wiping their own butt. I mean, that's a huge help to the parents. They get a little bit behind that and they start tying their own shoes. They come and they compare your kids to the other kids. Oh, my kid's tying their own shoes.

Well, my kid brushed their own teeth. Because there's these markers of maturity. After a certain point, they wake up and they pour their own cereal and then they can make their own breakfast and then they go start taking their own showers. Then after that, they get their own car.

You know, they become independent, walk to school by themselves, or come back and forth. And then eventually they become mature enough, independent enough where they get a job, they move out and make their own life. And so we have these maturing marks where because they've worked hard, because they put in the work in from the parents and the kids, they become more independent.

They learn to live on their own. Because that's how we function. And at the core of who we are, works-based righteousness or reward makes sense. So imagine if you weren't a Christian and you heard for the first time, here's this criminal who lived all his life selling drugs and doing no good things.

And he went to prison and he met Christ. So he comes out and he's going to go to heaven for eternity. And here's this person who paid his taxes, was a good citizen, was kind to his neighbors, and was generous, a good citizen, and because he didn't believe in Jesus Christ, he's going to go to hell for eternity.

Who would think that that's fair? Who would follow Christ? Because that makes no sense. Because everything inside of us says that's wrong. The guy who worked his tail off, he should get the greater reward, not that guy. Every single one of us. That's embedded inside. Even as I shared that illustration to you, my guess is most of you are agreeing with me.

That doesn't make any sense. And yet you and I don't think much about it. We sing about it. We memorize scripture. We tell other people about it, not realizing what that sounds like to non-Christians. Unless, unless you realize that we are all dead in our trespasses. That this was not a race between the fast and the slow.

That some people worked hard, got faster, some people who didn't work as hard, didn't make it. The Bible says we are dead in our trespasses. And that was the whole purpose of the law, is to tell us that there is no hope. Whether you are rich or whether you are moral and you lived all your life to be a good person versus somebody who lived all his life to do no good.

That in the presence of a holy God, there is no hope. That no one can access this holy God. And that was the purpose of the law, to break, to break this concept of, if I'm good enough, if I work hard enough, that somehow I can appease this holy God.

It was to make sin utterly sinful. And that's why religion is a shaking of fists toward this holy God and saying, "I will. I'm going to bridge this gap by my work. By working harder. I've achieved everything else. I was successful in business. I was successful in school. I raised up good children.

I can do this too." A religious philosophy, a religious living is nothing more than shaking his fist at a holy God and saying, "I'm going to bridge this gap." See the whole purpose of the law came to tell us that we are dead in our trespasses. In Romans 3, 19-20, it says, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed." You know what that means in modern English?

The purpose of the law came to basically to shut us up. That we would all be humbled. Whether you are Nicodemus or whether you are the Samaritan woman, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That we are all humbled before this holy God. There's no one who can stand before a holy God.

No sinner can ever stand before a holy God and demand justice. Because justice requires condemnation for eternity, even to the most moralist of person. And that's what he means. That he delivered us from these dead works. It is useless in bridging this gap between us and God. And all the world may become accountable to God because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight.

For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. See, pride in the gospel is a contradiction. Any Christian man who becomes more and more proud because of his learning, because of his experience, because of his fruit, has completely missed the mark. The more mature we become, the more humble we become.

Because the more we recognize the distance between us and him without Christ. Galatians 2.16, "Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by the faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified." You see, when we repent, when we repent, we're not coming to God and saying, "I'm sorry, I'll do better." That's not repentance.

In fact, that's arrogance. Repentance is coming before God and saying, "I am unable." It's not, "I will try harder. You know, I screwed up. Give me another chance so that I'll do it again." True repentance is recognizing that we are unable and surrendering to this God. See, the blood of Christ frees us from dead works.

Until a man rests in Christ, he will never be able to labor in Christ. Because human experience by his own works, like Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, "It's nothing new under the sun. It's all vanity. All our hard work is vanity. All this time raising godly children, vanity." Or whatever it is that we have hoped for.

If we work hard enough, we'll raise good children. They're going to have good jobs. Get married to a godly woman, godly husband. Settle down and be able to live a nice, comfortable life according to Solomon, according to the wisdom of the world, according to the gospel. It's all vanity.

All of it is. Nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2, 22-23, "For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days, his task is painful and grievous. Even at night his mind does not rest.

This too is vanity." Until every human being, every person in this room learns to find rest in the atonement of Christ, we become useless in the kingdom of God. Because we rely on our own works. We become proud when we're doing good. And then when we're not doing well, we have low self-esteem.

I can't serve God. I can't do this. So either pride or self-loathing is a result of a righteousness based on our work. So he says, he frees us. The atonement of Christ frees us from the bondage of dead works. And only an individual who has been freed from the bondage of dead works can be useful, number three, to serve the living God.

To serve the living God. To truly serve the living God. The word for serve here is the same word that he uses in verse one. Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. But in this passage in verse 14, the same word, same root word is used to describe to serve, "lechu'o." And that's what that word means.

The word proskuneo means a position of surrender. Is to bow down. And that's the word that is used most prominently in the New Testament. But this word lechu'o is describing a physical action. In this context, talking about the tabernacle, the priests are going and giving sacrifices and everything that they were doing, it was an act of worship.

So to apply that to today, when he says that only a man who has been freed from his dead works, that he is free to serve the living God, to worship the living God. Worship is not simply what happens in this room from 1030 to 12. Because we showed up.

By nature of the word worship, it means to love something, to adore something, to find enjoyment in something. Just like if you get too carried away with sports, your friends will say, "Man, you worship the Lakers." Or "You worship the Dodgers." Or maybe you fell in love with your girlfriend or husband or wife or whatever and you just like all you're thinking about is this person.

It's like, "Man, you worship her." What do we mean by that? It means that you find so much joy in this, that's all you think about. Some people get so carried away and just love Lakers to the point where they know where these basketballs are made. If I asked you how much the Spalding basketball weighs, I bet you some of you guys know.

I bet you you know where the leather is made. It used to be made in this country, but because of the weather condition and the political climate, the leather was cheaper out in China and then the political situation, so they moved to Vietnam. Starting from next year, they're going to bring another ball, but the weight is too high so they're going to deflate it.

And then next year, the eastern side is going to use this basketball, but the western side is going to use that basketball. But after two months, they're going to try it out and they're going to see what's going to happen. You know all about that. Absolutely useless information. You don't get anything out of that.

No one's paying you to do that, but because you love it that much. That's what we mean by worship. That you adore it so much. You get so much enjoyment out of it that you give yourself fully to that. That's the nature of the word worship. So when the Bible tells us to worship God in spirit and in truth, He's not simply talking about going through the regulation of coming to church and singing songs and giving and becoming a member.

He's talking about seeing God's glory and becoming a worshiper of God. That we become obsessed with Him because there's nothing better than Him. And so that's why we worship. Remember when we first became Christians? I remember when I first became a Christian, asking the Bible study leader if I can come to Friday Bible study.

I was living in Burbank in the middle of baseball tryouts and I spent eight months preparing for this baseball tryout and I became a Christian in the middle of winter break and I just lost interest. I just wanted to be at this Bible study. And as a young believer, I didn't know that you were allowed to come to Bible study.

I thought it was for the elite. You know what I mean? I asked, "Can I? Is it possible?" So not only do they want me to come, they said, "I'll pick you up." So I had one of the Bible study leaders come from LA and pick me up in Burbank every Friday for a year and a half.

But I remember thinking, "Wow, this is so awesome." And they had a prayer meeting at 10 o'clock and I was like, "Can I come to this prayer meeting just for the leadership?" They said, "Yeah, of course." Let me stay sometimes two, three in the morning. And then we would just sleep at the church, wake up the next day and they would take me back home.

I don't know if my parents were worried or not. They never asked. So just stayed Saturday. We would spend all day. And it's not just me. I know other believers. When they first become a Christian and first become a worshiper of Christ, they're like, "Oh, can I sit up in the front?" I said, "Yes." I'm trying to get people to sit more in the front.

You know what I mean? Can I do this? And I've had people ask me, "Can I dress this way? What kind of Bible do I need to get? Can I serve?" We have two groups of people at churches. Usually you have a group of people who are eager to serve and it's like, "Oh, can I serve?

Where can I serve?" And then you have the other half that's like, "Do I have to serve? Is this mandatory? Can I have to be there?" That's the difference between worshiping and religion. People who are going through the motion and checking off the things that you're supposed to do versus somebody who's seen the glory of Christ and fell in love.

That's why he describes the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Is to restore the worship that we lost because we've fallen from his glory. So we were not able to see his beauty. So that's what the cross did.

It showed us the beauty of the God that created us so that we may come back to worship him, adore him because that's where we find life. And that's why we study Leviticus. That's why we come to church. That's why we serve. That's why even in this hot weather we come.

Because I find greater life here than anywhere else. That's what he means. That when we recognize who he is, that he's better than anything else that we can possibly pursue in this world, and he delivers us from the dead works that continue to bind us, then he frees us so that we can serve and worship this living God.

That's the whole point of what he's trying to get. He's not telling people who are drifting, he's like, "Hey, you better come back." He said, "Do you not recognize what you are drifting from? You're drifting from where the greatest joy and greatest life is found." I pray that, especially now, again, you and I live in a generation where Christianity, the name Christian, has lost its meaning.

Because the gospel has been watered down so much. We've been worried so much about losing numbers in the church that we've just, as long as the church is full, we're doing great. That's not what God is looking for. He said he's looking for people who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

The greatest witness that you and I can be in this world is to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and strength. And this world that doesn't know God will look at your life and say, "What is it about Jesus that you would worship him like that?

Why would you sit in the hot sun? Why would you risk your health?" Then we can say it's because of what Christ has done. So my prayer is, especially now, as the turmoil and the tide violently is pushing our culture away from Christ, that we absolutely must be anchored in Christ.

That we ask ourselves, not just this morning, not just today, but ask ourselves, "Is Christ enough?" And if he is not, there's nothing else more important than to deal with that question. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your kindness, your goodness, your mercy. I pray, Father God, that as you open our eyes to see the glory of Jesus Christ, the glory of who you are, that cause us to be born again.

If we've drifted from that and been tempted and coveting things, Lord God, that are worthless, help us, Lord God, to be re-anchored in Christ and Christ alone. Help us to be a witness in this dark world that we may be the light. Help us to have opportunities, Lord God, to be able to share the gospel, to be ready in season and out of season to preach your word.

Help us, Lord God, as a church to stimulate, to provoke one another on toward loving good deeds that in our community that Christ may be exalted, that joy and worship may flourish, that the world may know that we worship the living God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.