(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - Good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. We will now begin our service. (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) ♪ Come Thou Fount of every blessing ♪ ♪ To my heart to sing Thy grace ♪ ♪ Streams of mercy never ceasing ♪ ♪ Call for songs of loudest praise ♪ ♪ Teach me some melodious sonnet ♪ ♪ Sung by flaming tongues above ♪ ♪ Praise the mountain fixed upon it ♪ ♪ Fount of Thy redeeming love ♪ - Here I raise.

♪ Here I raise my Ebenezer ♪ ♪ Hither by Thy help I come ♪ ♪ And I hope by Thy good pleasure ♪ ♪ Safely to arrive at home ♪ ♪ Jesus saw me when a stranger ♪ ♪ Wandering from the fold of God ♪ ♪ He to rescue me from danger ♪ ♪ Interposes precious blood ♪ (gentle music continues) ♪ O to grace, O to grace how great a debtor ♪ ♪ Daily I'm constrained to be ♪ ♪ Let Thy goodness like a fetter ♪ ♪ Bind my wandering heart to Thee ♪ ♪ Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it ♪ ♪ Prone to leave the God I love ♪ ♪ Here's my heart, O, take and seal it ♪ ♪ Seal it for Thy courts above ♪ (gentle music continues) ♪ O that day, O that day when freed from sinning ♪ ♪ I shall see Thy lovely face ♪ ♪ Clothed in blood, washed in it ♪ ♪ Now I'll sing Thy sovereign praise ♪ ♪ Come, my Lord, no longer tarry ♪ ♪ Take my ransomed soul away ♪ ♪ Send Thine angels now to carry ♪ ♪ Me to realms of endless day ♪ ♪ Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it ♪ ♪ Prone to leave the God I love ♪ ♪ Here's my heart, O, take and seal it ♪ ♪ Seal it for Thy courts above ♪ - Good morning.

Welcome to Breen Community Church. We have actually a lot of things that are going on pretty soon. But first of all, we wanna remind you that our VBS is taking place this week. And so after the Old Testament survey class, they're going to be clearing out everything and preparing the whole sanctuary and the whole church for the VBS.

And so the volunteers will be sticking around doing all of that stuff. And so again, for the parents, again, starting from tomorrow at five o'clock and try to bring the children a little bit earlier so that they can be registered and into small groups and situated before they get into their classes.

And so that's starting tomorrow all the way to Friday. Okay, so just keep that in mind. And then another thing is our retreat that's coming up in August. Typically, we have a live service here. We have a guest speaker that comes or one of our pastors will come in and lead a live service.

But this year, we have almost full attendance. And so we're not able to run a service here because then a bunch of people would have to come back from the retreat. And so, well, I was told we have about 640 people who are in attendance for the retreat. And so that's pretty much most of the people who are here at church.

But we will be having live stream. So the service that we're having at the retreat will be live stream. So for whatever reason that you cannot, and those of you who are online, live stream will still happen. But again, there will not be a live service here, physical service here.

And if you choose to, you can come and join us for the physical service where we're at. And we'll give the address for that. But those of you who cannot come, there will be live stream on that Sunday. So we'll remind you of that as we get closer to that date.

And then our new session of Bible study is gonna be starting in September. And so if you haven't registered for that, whether you're in home group or small group, we will be having the physical home, small group, that we've been online all this time because of obviously what's going on.

But starting from our next session in September, we will have a live session here. So there will be no online. It will be all live on Wednesdays, and then the home groups as well. So if you have not signed up for that, please sign up as soon as you can.

And to better prepare for that, our inductive Bible study, Pastor Mark is leading a inductive Bible study, how to do Bible study lab. And that's gonna be taking place August 1st, 8th, and 22nd. So please sign up for that, and then he'll help you guide through how to study the Bible.

And then that is, I would say it's a must. If you haven't done that kind of study before, I would highly recommend you take that class, and then he will help you so that when you take the class in September, you'll be able to follow along with that, okay?

So if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up for that. And the first session is happening on August 1st for that, and then regular Bible study in September. Next week, we have a members meeting that's taking place at 2.30 p.m. So if you are a member, or you're becoming a member, it is, again, a quarterly mandatory meeting.

So if you cannot make it, please let us know ahead of time. And that is gonna be at 2.30, so it'll give you just enough time to go grab lunch and then come back. At that members meeting, we will introduce our new members to the church, and we have a big service fair, meaning that all the different departments and people who are serving and committees that are gonna be set up, so whether it's elementary or the parking team.

So you'll be able to walk around and see what's going on in the church. And so some of those groups are recruiting. They need help, so they'll probably have a sign-up table where you can sign your name, and you can sign up for six months to a year to do that.

And then there are some tables that's just for your information so that you can know what's going on inside the church. So next Sunday, you'll see right after the second service, you'll have all these booths that are gonna be set up, and so before and after the members meeting, you can go visit those places.

I think, well, maybe after the members meeting, you can go visit and then sign up for that. So that's taking place next Sunday. So if you have any questions about how can I jump in, how can I get involved, how can I serve the church, next Sunday service fair is for that purpose, okay?

And along with that, just a reminder, the cafe night is happening at the end of this month and at 7.30 on Saturday. And so they've already had an EV outing yesterday. There's another one happening today, and then another big event happening on the 24th next Saturday, and all of this is to, again, just to encourage the church to go to do evangelism.

And so if you haven't signed up and you wanna sign up, you can do that for next Saturday, and they're gonna be, I think, at the UTC Center to do that. And then if you sign up, they'll give you more information about where to meet and that type of stuff.

And then if you have people that you'd want to invite, again, that's what this is for. This is at the minimum so you can pray, but the other part of it is so you can invite people to come to that and just let our outreach team know that's, again, being led by our brother, June, and so let him know so that they can better pray and prepare for that night, okay?

All right, so it's a lot of announcements. Okay, and just one other reminder, as we prepare for the offering, and I wanna remind you again that we're trying to transition from Venmo to PayPal and Zelle, so if you're able to pay your offering through Zelle or PayPal to use that instead of Venmo.

So if Venmo's the only avenue you have, then the church can receive that, but we're having some issues with Venmo, so if possible, we wanna encourage you guys to use the other avenues first. And those of you who are still using physical checks and you're writing with pen and paper, our offering basket is in the back so you can drop it off there, all right?

(laughing) You know who I'm talking about, all right. All right, so I'm gonna take a minute to pray and then we'll give you the opportunity to give the offering before we enter into their main praise, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're so grateful and thankful, Lord God, that your mercy and grace has allowed us to come to worship you.

I pray, Father God, that whatever we are entangled with, the distraction, Lord God, that we so easily give into, help us each Sunday morning as we come together that we would have a greater sense of your glory, that we would be transformed from one glory to another. I pray that what you have invested in your word would cause us, Lord God, to worship you in spirit and in truth.

And even in our giving this morning, I pray that you would help us to give it to you meaningfully, intentionally, generously, joyfully, Lord God, that it may be multiplied for your use. We thank you, Father, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) Let us all rise as we sing these praises.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) Our God is great. ♪ Our God is great ♪ ♪ The Father of creation ♪ ♪ His splendor fills the earth ♪ ♪ The mountain crash ♪ ♪ The thunder sings his praises ♪ ♪ The galaxies can't help but shout his word ♪ ♪ My soul must sing to you an offering ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ My soul must sing ♪ ♪ Oh, let the heavens ring ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ Oh, how great you are ♪ (upbeat music) The Word made flesh.

♪ The Word made flesh ♪ ♪ God's promise to the Father ♪ ♪ Came with power to save ♪ ♪ The light of life was crushed for our abode ♪ ♪ He died our death and rose up from the grave ♪ ♪ My soul must sing to you an offering ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ My soul must sing ♪ ♪ Oh, let the heavens ring ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ Oh, how great you are ♪ (upbeat music) Our King will come.

♪ Our King will come ♪ ♪ With trumpet blasts resounding ♪ ♪ To claim His blood-worn crown ♪ ♪ Your red disguise descending in His glory ♪ ♪ An innocent faithful turn to sin ♪ ♪ My soul must sing to you an offering ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ My soul must sing ♪ ♪ Oh, let the heavens ring ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ My soul must sing ♪ ♪ My soul must sing to you an offering ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ My soul must sing ♪ ♪ Oh, let the heavens ring ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ Oh, how great you are ♪ (upbeat music) (soft music) (soft music) Sing what can wash.

♪ What can wash away our sin ♪ ♪ What can make us whole again ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ What can wash us pure as snow ♪ ♪ Welcome as the friends of God ♪ ♪ Nothing but your blood ♪ ♪ Nothing but your blood, King Jesus ♪ ♪ Your blood ♪ ♪ Your blood, your blood speaks a better word ♪ ♪ Than all the empty praise I've heard upon this earth ♪ ♪ Speaks righteousness for me ♪ ♪ Stands in my defense ♪ ♪ Jesus, it's your blood ♪ What can wash.

♪ What can wash away our sin ♪ ♪ What can make us whole again ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ What can wash us pure as snow ♪ ♪ Welcome as the friends of God ♪ ♪ Nothing but your blood ♪ ♪ Nothing but your blood, King Jesus ♪ ♪ Your cross, your cross testifies in praise ♪ ♪ Tells of a father's heart to thank for it for us ♪ ♪ And holy we are praised ♪ ♪ Not by earthly confidence ♪ ♪ It's only by your blood ♪ ♪ Your cross, your cross testifies in praise ♪ ♪ Tells of a father's heart to thank for it for us ♪ ♪ And holy we are praised ♪ ♪ Not by earthly confidence ♪ ♪ It's only by your blood ♪ ♪ What can wash away our sins ♪ ♪ What can make us whole again ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ What can wash us pure as snow ♪ ♪ Welcome as the friends of God ♪ ♪ Nothing but your blood ♪ ♪ Nothing but your blood, King Jesus ♪ ♪ What can wash us pure ♪ ♪ What can wash us pure as snow ♪ ♪ Welcome as the friends of God ♪ ♪ Nothing but your blood ♪ ♪ Nothing but your blood, King Jesus ♪ - You may be seated.

- All right, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12, we're gonna be in part two of what we started last week. It looks like we're gonna have another part next week. Okay. All right, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 18 through 24. Again, reading out of the NASB.

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 touches the mountain, it will be stoned. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, "I am full of fear and trembling." 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 spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would help us and guide us. May your word take center stage. Protect this pulpit, Lord God, that your sheep will hear your voice and follow you and you alone. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, I've shared with you many times that I started ministry probably earlier than I should have.

At age 19, my former discipler, you know, he encouraged me to go to this church. His friend was planting a church, and why don't you go help out? And so I became a youth pastor at 19, just out of, again, just to be obedient to my discipler, and then I've been in ministry since.

And there's a lot of things that I did as a young youth pastor. You know, I was a youth pastor, I think, from 19 to about 24, 25, and then I went to the college ministry, and then after that, the young adults, and then we ended up planting this church.

But there's a lot of things that I did early on that I probably would not do now, right? And one of the things that I remember very distinctly was I got a cassette tape. Those of you guys remember what cassette tapes are? And in the tape, basically, it was a recording of a demonic encounter that this live radio program guy was having, and so he wanted me to listen to it.

And so I listened to it, and I said, "Oh, it was very shocking." And so I thought, "Oh, this would be a good idea "to let the kids listen to it." And so I remember Elder Joe was also in the youth group at that time, so I think he's the only one.

You were there, right? Yeah, he was there, so he was one of the guys who got traumatized that day. So it just happened, the night that I was playing that audio, it was raining and thundering, and it was up in the darker part of the church, Irvine Baptist, that I was at.

And then, basically, the recording is, it was kind of like that live Bible program, but Bible Answer Man, and so people would just randomly call in and ask questions. And so this young girl, I think she said she was maybe like 15 or 16 years old, she called, and she seemed so disoriented.

And you could tell that in the beginning, they didn't know how to deal with her, and she said, "I don't know why I called. "I just pulled over, and something led me to call, "and I'm not exactly sure where I'm calling. "What is this?" And so, in the beginning, it sounds like a prank call.

But as they are having this conversation, she started to say things like how she was raised in a satanic home, and that her whole upbringing was to prepare her for this particular sacrifice. And so, initially, it sounded like, "Is this a prank call?" And again, this is all recording live on the radio, and you could tell back and forth that even the hosts are kind of caught off guard, not to know how to deal with her.

And so they started to share the gospel with her, and then she said, when he mentioned the name Jesus, her response was shocking, because she said, "Who is this Jesus, this man? "Does he want to have sexual relations with me?" And obviously, it's blasphemous what she was saying, but the radio hosts just caught off guard, and she said that's the only thing that she knew, so ever since she was a child, that this happened to her repeatedly, and all of this, supposedly, was to prepare her for some sacrifice that they were gonna make.

Well, you can tell that the radio host is also kind of trying to figure this out. Is this real? Is this a prank call? And in the middle of sharing the gospel with her, this is on live radio, her voice changes into a demonic voice, and there's dead silence for about 10 seconds, because you could tell the hosts were trying to figure out, is this real or not?

And then the demon begins to speak, and so the recording is that encounter that they have, and this was recorded. So I didn't even listen to the whole thing. I just thought this was pretty shocking, and it's just that, in my wisdom, I thought this would be great for our youth group.

(audience laughing) And at that time, I think Officer Joe was probably 13, 14 at that time? Yeah, something about that. So we had children as young as 12, maybe even younger, all the way up to 18, and at the end of the recording, it was maybe about a 10, 15-minute recording, at the end of it, they actually said when this happened, and it just happened to be exactly that same day, two years before, and it was two weeks before Halloween, that she was being prepared as a sacrifice, if all this is true.

And so obviously, the kids were in shock. Even I was in shock, and then thunder started to happen, and the rain started falling, and then people were scared to death, and then it just happened that night, we were introducing Friday night prayer meetings, and so we had 110% attendance, and people were crying out to God.

It was a great way to start the prayer meeting, 'cause people were scared. And the reason why I say I probably would not have done that again, because I found out way later that some of the younger girls were so scared that they couldn't sleep at night for months, and they didn't even tell me this until way later that they couldn't even wake up in the middle of the night, because they were so scared of what they heard.

Now, I tell you all of this, not to say like, oh, the Demers are real. Of course the Demons are real, right? But the purpose of this story, to tell you the story, isn't that like, was that a prank, was that real? But that's not really my point, right?

It seemed very real, but the point of my story is, whenever we hear stories of demonic encounters, whether it's here or overseas, our immediate response is fear, right? But is that fear based upon what we've learned in Scripture, or is that fear based upon what we've been conditioned to think because of media?

Now, I personally don't think Christians watching scary movies is a good idea, right? Because your frame of work of the spiritual world is being framed by the world. And so whatever you feel, instinctively, may be coming from you being exposed to certain things that is not biblical. And I think in a large capacity that this intense fear that people have of the spiritual encounter is not dictated by what we see in Scripture.

It's by the world. And yet on the flip side, whenever we talk about encountering God, we talk about it so flippantly. God spoke to me, I went to God, I went to his presence. And not to say that none of that is true or it's wrong, but typically when we talk about God and his presence, there is no fear that's instilled.

We think of God as this holy grandfather that passes out candy. And he, of course he doesn't like sin, but he just kind of brushes it off. So, oh, my son died for you, cover for you. And then we live by these cliches. And so whenever we talk about the presence of God, there's no fear at all.

Just warm, fuzzy feelings. And yet when we talk about Satan, there's this trembling that is inconsistent with what we see in Scripture. Until we have a proper view of who God is, other fears are always going to dominate us. In fact, I believe some of the greatest heresies that creeps into the church is coming through men who are more fearful of men than they are of God.

Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Why? Despite whatever pressures or persecution or whatever things may come as a result of it, fear of God is what causes us to stay on the narrow path. In fact, the Scripture says in Romans chapter three, verse 10 and on, Apostle Paul gives a description of the fall of mankind and what sins that they are guilty of.

I'm going to just read a portion of it. It says, "As it is written, "there is none righteous, not even one. "There is none who understands. "There is none who seeks for God. "All have turned aside. "Together they have become useless. "There is no one who does good. "There is not even one." And he goes on and on.

And then he concludes that section by verse 18 by saying, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." And so the reason why he puts it that way is all the things that he mentions in the previous verse, he says the base reason behind why they are doing that is because they don't fear God.

They don't know who God is, so they don't understand the consequence of their sin. And as a result, they can live in compromise. They can live in rebellion. But if we think about the spiritual encounter, there should be, ought to be, a greater fear of God than any fear we have of the demons.

In fact, the Bible teaches that whenever the demons encountered Christ, do you remember how they reacted? They got on their knees, begging for his mercy. "Son of man, have you come before time to torture us?" And that's exactly what Jesus says. Fear, not someone who can destroy your flesh, but your flesh and your soul in hell.

In other words, fear God, because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The whole purpose of Mount Sinai was to teach us to understand who God is and where we stand before God. The law was given to make sin utterly sinful. And the reason why he says that is because our natural state is we measure ourselves by ourselves.

And so, are you good? Well, what do you measure that by? I didn't murder anybody. I never went to jail. So I'm a decent person because I do this or that. But the whole purpose of the law, he says, was to reveal just how desperate we are until we recognize that how disgusting sin is.

I don't know about you, but when I was back in high school, I learned for the first time what goes into hot dogs. Right? And some of you guys probably learned it too. And then when you first learn it, it's like, oh my God, you can't put that in your mouth anymore because, and since then I got over it.

But once you understand the disgusting nature of these things, you naturally want to stay away from it. But part of the reason why we are attracted to sin is because we don't recognize the disgusting nature of the sin. Until we recognize the destructive result of sin, that because of sin, the utterly sinful, and what results from the sin, until we recognize the dire need because of the sin.

So the whole purpose of Mount Sinai and the giving of the law was to reveal exactly where they stood before God. It's not to simply put fear in them so that they can see and be brought to the cross and to beg that this is what I need. See, people who come to Mount Zion without recognizing and understanding Mount Sinai, it's like handing out, it's handing out checks from the government, the stimulus check.

The purpose of the stimulus check is so that people who lost their jobs can't get groceries so that they can pay their bills. But for people who don't need it or don't realize that they need it, it's a down payment for a Tesla. You know what I mean? A down payment to take a trip.

They're gonna pass it out, so I'll take it. And so we don't recognize the value of it. It's just kind of used, not to live, but just to enjoy. So many Christians who have come to faith not understanding the necessity of the gospel and say, "Who wants Jesus? "I mean, who wouldn't want Jesus?

"He loves you unconditionally. "And even if you sin, Jesus covers you. "One saved, always saved." And if there's a possibility, even if there's 1% possibility, that there really is hell, and the gospel is just being passed out, I'll take it. And so what ends up happening is, we take the grace of God, and instead of recognizing what it is that we have received, the grace of God is given to us so that we can go to God, so that we can be reconciled with this holy God.

Instead, the grace of God is received so that I can live my life without the fear of hell. And so you throw out phrases like, "Oh, we have Christian liberty." So Christian liberty was given to us so that we can use that to freely evangelize, so that we can come together, the Jews and the Gentiles can come together without having this fear that we're breaking this law.

You've been given liberty to freely come and worship God. But an individual who does not recognize where we stand before God, grace is just a free ticket to do whatever you want. That's why it's absolutely necessary that we understand the terror of God so that we can grasp the grace of God.

In Hebrews 12, 18 to 21, the description of Mount Sinai, right? This is what it says, remember what it says, we talked about this last week, "For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, "and to a blazing fire, to darkness, to gloom, to whirlwind, "and to a blast of a trumpet, "and the sound of words which sound was such "so that those who heard begged "that no further word be spoken to them, "that his presence was terrifying, "that even his voice when he spoke, "they begged to stop speaking, "for they could not bear the command.

"If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. "And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, "I am full of fear and trembling." So his presence and giving up the law caused terror. In Revelation chapter four, one to three, there's a description of Mount Zion, and this is what it says, "Then I looked, and behold, "the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, "and with him 144,000, having his name "and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.

"And I heard a voice from heaven." It's the same voice that they heard in Sinai, like the sound of many waters, and like sound of loud thunder, just like it's described in Hebrews, and yet the result was very different, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they sang a new song before the throne before living creatures and the elders.

You notice how the same voice of God that thundered created terror, begging to tell Moses, please do not, tell him to stop speaking to us directly, and we're terrified of him, and yet in Revelation in Mount Zion, they hear the same voice, the same sound thunder, and it leads to joy and celebration.

And it's the same voice. How does one mountain cause terror, and the other mountain breaks out in singing? See, that's the gospel. How that same person could go to Mount Sinai and then come to Zion, and one leads to terror, and one leads to celebration, is where the Bible describes the gap of the cross.

Without understanding that tension, without understanding how we cross this, is what causes the superficial worship, why people are bored with their faith because they took the grace of God like just free candy being passed out. See, Mount Sinai is the path. The same God who caused the terror is the same God that causes joy and worship.

So it's important that we understand how we got here. Mount Zion, he says, is not a place where you can touch. There was and is a physical place. So where Solomon built his temple was on the Mount Zion, it's a physical place. The city of David was Mount Zion.

The whole city of Jerusalem oftentimes is referred to as Mount Zion. Mount Zion is a reference to where God made his dwelling. But he said it's not a physical place. He's not referring to any of those particular sites because he says it's a mountain that cannot be touched. It's a heavenly Jerusalem.

In other words, it's another word for heaven. And so the way that the Bible described Mount Zion, he says in verse 22, it is the city of the living God, a heavenly Jerusalem, meaning it is a permanent dwelling of God. In Psalm 132, 13 to 14, it says, "For the Lord has chosen Zion.

"He has desired for his habitation. "This is my resting place forever. "Here I will dwell, for I have desired it." Now the distinction between Mount Zion and Mount Sinai was Sinai was a theophany, meaning that God from heaven decided to make contact with man. So temporarily he came and revealed a portion of his glory, not his full glory.

In fact, remember the picture that I showed you of Mount Sinai where it's just blackened because of his presence and his glory, the fire? Well, it's blackened, but it's not there. He just made a mark, but that's not where his glory resides. And that glimpse of his glory, his temporary showing of himself created this terror for sinners.

And yet Zion is a permanent place where he habits, habitats forever in his full glory. So how can you possibly, if invitation to Zion or Sinai created this terror just by his glimpse of his glory, how can a sinful man possibly be invited to Zion? Again, that's where the tension lies.

And that was the whole purpose of the giving of the law is to create this tension. I need to live. Well, where do you go to live? You have to go to that God because he's the author of life. He's the one who has the Sabbath. So if we want to find eternal rest, he's the one that we need to go to.

Well, how do I go to him if that God that I need to go to is at Mount Sinai? See, that's what Zion is. And the nation of Israel understood this paradox, this tension. You remember when the Israelites were coming out and they're going into the desert and it didn't take them long for them to start grumbling.

Soon as they felt like the Egyptians were coming, said, "Why did God bring us out here?" Even after all the miracles, they go to the other side, they say, "Oh, I'm so thirsty. "We might as well die. "It was better in Egypt." And so they just would complain and complain.

And then God, he burns in his anger and he tells Moses, "If I go with them, "I'm going to kill these people. "I'm not going to be able to withhold my anger toward them." And so Moses begs him, "If you do not come with us, we will die out here." And so there was this tension that if he dwells in the midst of us, we can die because of his presence.

But if he doesn't go with us, we will die because his presence is not with us. So there was this constant tension of, "We need you here, but we can't have you too close." So if you basically study the Old Testament history of Israel, it's God's presence drawing near to Israel.

And every time he comes, he gives them strict, scary revelation that the only way that you're going to live is if I'm in the midst of your presence. So he comes from Mount Sinai to the tabernacle, to the tabernacle, to the temple, and he gives them very strict restrictions.

Remember the book of Leviticus? He says, "I'm going to dwell in your midst, "but the only way that you and I "are going to have any kind of relationship "is you got to follow these rules. "You have to recognize who he is. "And if you come to my presence in a nonchalant way, "you will die." And that's exactly what happens, they die.

But you know their history. Over and over again, they sin, commit sin against God. So in the book of Ezekiel, God has had enough. And so his glory begins to be withdrawn from the nation of Israel. So there's this scene in Ezekiel chapter 10 where the spirit of God, it comes to the Holy of Holies, and it begins to move to the threshold, the outer court.

And at the outer court, it rests, almost as if it is reluctant to leave. And then from there, he goes up to the hilltop, looking over Jerusalem and the temple, reluctant. And it was a scene of God's Shekinah glory leaving not just the temple, but Israel because of their sins.

And as a result of that, the protection for Israel is gone. And as soon as that happened, the Babylonians come and they destroy them, take them into captivity for 70 years. The prophets tell us the 70 years of captivity happens because they specifically disobeyed God's command for the Sabbath.

So every one of those 70 years represents a year that they disobeyed God in keeping the Sabbath. So they understood if God is in our midst, we are in trouble, we're terrified. But if he's not in our midst, we are destroyed by our surrounding. And so this constant juxtaposition.

So the Pharisees had an idea that we don't want this, we need him. Even though we're terrified of him, we need it in our presence. And so the Pharisees, basically their initial intent was that we're gonna keep the law perfectly. And even the word Pharisee basically means holy, to be set apart.

And that's why I said, you know what, instead of just keeping the Sabbath, we're gonna be meticulous about the Sabbath. We wanna make sure that by keeping the Sabbath, that we're gonna invite God's spirit back. That was their intention. So their relationship with God is described in the book of Hosea.

Where it's kind of like, you know, a boyfriend who cheated against his girlfriend. And then he comes back begging, I'm never gonna do this again. And then the girlfriend takes him back, and then, you know, a couple months later, he does the same thing. And this cycle is repeated over and over and over again.

And he means it, but then he can't control himself. And that's how it's described in the book of Hosea, between the relationship of this prophet and Gomer. And he says, this is what our relationship looked like. That I kept on being gracious to you, gracious to you, but you would continue to prostitute yourself over and over again.

So by the time we come to Christ and his revelation, it was to bring us to the point to recognize that we are helpless. Even with the best of intention. And that's what Paul is describing in Romans chapter seven. A relationship with the Jew and the law in Romans chapter seven, verse 13, he says, "Therefore, did that which is good "become a cause of death for me?

"May it never be, rather, it was sin. "It wasn't the law, but the sin that was residing in me, "in order that it might be shown to be sin "by effecting my death through that which is good. "So that through the commandment, "sin would become utterly sinful." To bring us to the point where we are desperate for the cross.

And then if you look at Romans chapter seven, verse 19 and on, he describes, I'm just gonna summarize. He says, "What I want to do, I do not do. "What I don't want to do, I keep on doing." And then leaves to verse 25, "Oh, what a wretched man that I am.

"Who will set me free from the body of this death? "As an unconverted Jew, I have no power "to obey these commands." To bring him so that sin would become utterly sinful. Oh, what a wretched man that I am. And so the purpose of Mount Sinai was bring us to this point in verse 24.

I am ruined, like Isaiah says. I'm undone. If God is the one that I need to run to to have life, and yet the greatest terror is also in him. How do I go to him? That's verse 24. And that's where chapter eight comes in. There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and all the law did was reveal what you should be doing, what you could not do, which is what he was explaining in chapter seven.

He has set you free, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. He doesn't say God will do or he will continue to do. He says he did. And that's exactly what Jesus meant when he was being crucified on the cross. And when he says it is finished, he's not saying that his earthly life is done.

He's saying that everything that he had decided, what God had planned, and was carrying it out for the salvation of mankind so a sinful man can come through Sinai to get to Mount Zion, it is done. That's what he means. God did. Sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

And that's why he says at the end in verse 24 that Jesus' blood speaks better than Abel's blood. What does it mean that Jesus' blood is more articulate than Abel's blood? What does that mean? Well, if you go to Genesis chapter four, verse nine through 10, and you know the context.

Cain ends up killing Abel because of his jealousy that God receives his blood sacrifice over the other stuff that Cain brought. And because he was jealous, he ends up killing him, and God seeks him out. And in verse nine it says, then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" God knowing full well that he has already murdered his brother, and he said, "I do not know.

"Am I my brother's keeper?" Doesn't that reveal everything about him? He just murdered his brother. All knowing God asks him, "Where is your brother?" He's like, "What are you asking me? "Am I my brother's keeper?" So you can see the sinfulness of Cain just by the way he answers that.

And God says, "What have you done? "The voice of your brother's blood "is crying to me from the ground." What does that mean? What is his brother's voice, Abel's blood crying out? For justice. That's what he's saying. Abel's blood. You committed murder, and his blood is crying out for justice.

So when he says the blood of Christ speaks a better word than Abel's blood, he's saying Abel's blood cries for justice, but Jesus' blood cries for mercy and grace. That's the deliverance. See, you and I, again, recently in a generation, and it's not just this generation, every generation, because you cannot live without justice.

Justice basically is righteousness. You and I cannot live without righteousness. There's no law. If something wrong is done, there has to be correction. So otherwise, you can't live. But the problem is, when sinners cry out for justice, the first person to get the punishment for that is the one crying for justice.

I remember years ago when we were doing construction on the other building, not this building, but the building that we had prior, and we hired a Chinese contractor, and he had a bunch of workers there, and I could tell that their English wasn't that great. One day I showed up to work, and I saw a pool of blood on the ground, where supposedly the sanctuary is supposed to be.

And my Chinese is just good enough to go to the bathroom and find something to eat, but beyond that, I can just pick up words here and there. But I could tell there was some kind of a fight, and I found out that one of the workers got mad at the other guy, and he took up a wrench, and then he basically poked him on the face.

So I said, "What's going on? "This is crazy." And so the guy who got poked on the face, I mean, the blood had already stopped bleeding, but I could tell where he got punched. And the other guy was outside just roaming around, but he was still there. But the guy was angry, and he said, "No, apology is not enough.

"Look at this." And so he's saying this in Chinese, obviously, and then one of the guys was interpreting this for me. And so he said he wanted to call the police. So I said, "Okay," and then called the police. So the police come, and he's trying to take a report, but all of a sudden, as soon as the police come, no one speaks English.

Everybody's playing dumb. And so it was kind of weird, 'cause I know you speak English. I just talked to you in English. I know that guy speaks English. I mean, he's broken English, but he speaks enough. But all of a sudden, it became quiet. But the guy who was wronged, he demanded, it's like, "I want the police." And the police came, and they called the ambulance.

The ambulance came, but his English really was not good. And so after a while, you could tell that the officers who were there was the Costa Mesa police officers. So something's fishy, right? All of a sudden, nobody speaks English, no one wants to help, and everybody's kind of avoiding us.

So he kind of caught with that maybe these guys are here illegally, right? And so I was like, "Oh, shoot, "they're gonna get in trouble." And the officers were very nice, and he didn't wanna get them in trouble. So he got a interpreter on the phone from the department and started speaking Mandarin to the guy who was in the ambulance, and basically tell him, he said, "If we take this to the police, "and we take this to the court, "they're gonna wanna see your papers." And I know exactly what he was talking about.

And then he gets on the phone, and then she speaks to him in Mandarin, and all of a sudden, he hangs up the phone, he takes everything off, and he jumps off the ambulance, and he was gone. And so the officer looked at me, just smiled, just like, "Yeah, that's what I thought." And then they just, just nice enough, and he just left.

And obviously, we know what happened. As much as he wanted justice, he couldn't take it to court, 'cause he knew that if he stood before the judge, that he would be judged before the other guy. They ended up working this out, right? They ended up, like, the guy started giving him money, and so they just, one guy just, you know, the guy who caused the damage ended up leaving, and he got paid, and so they were able to work it out in that way.

But the point that I'm trying to make is, sinners cannot stand before a holy God demanding justice, because justice means you get what you deserve. You cannot live without justice. But the problem with mankind is that as much as we need justice in order to live, that this justice is going to destroy us.

That's the tension that the whole world lives under. God is the only author of life, and yet if we go to the author of life, we will be destroyed. But the Bible says, "He didn't bring us to justice." Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve.

Where we deserve to be destroyed, and God has mercy on us. You get pulled over, you're going 105 miles per hour, the police says, "I'm not going to give you a ticket." That's mercy. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. They pull you over, they decide not to give you a ticket, and they give you a $30 gift certificate to Chick-fil-A.

That's grace. Small grace, but that's grace. So justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. And so in the New Testament, God didn't just carry out justice, he absorbed the justice of God, that we will be spared from hell that we deserve.

But he didn't leave us there, he raised us up as co-heirs with Christ, so that when we are in heaven, in the presence of this almighty God that would bring terror to sinners, they break out into worship. See, when sinners come to Christ, not recognizing what it is that we have in Christ, they get bored, because they receive the grace of God like it was just free candy, it was just being passed out, it's like, "Oh, I'll take it, oh, raise your hand, "come down the aisle, oh, okay, I'll take it, just in case." There's so many people in the church, it's harder, it's more sacrifice for them to leave the church.

Because they grew up in the church, they have to forsake relationships. Their community is based around Christianity. So it's hard for them to leave the church. So they stick around, yet never fully grasping what they have in Christ. They're never true worshipers, they're attenders of the church, but they're not true worshipers of God, because worship is something that is inspired because of what you recognize that you have in Christ.

But a nominal Christian only understands the superficial stuff on the outside, the benefit. And so therefore, he's in the church, but he does not know Christ, and yet he never truly worships. It doesn't produce joy, it's just obligations, it's the law that I need to obey. But we're not attracted to Christ.

See, the Bible says that we are in eternity with Christ in Zion because he's the new mediator in a new covenant. As Moses was mediating between Israelites and God, even he himself was terrified. And yet Christ stands as our mediator forever in eternity, by his blood, sprinkled, cleansed. This is the son of God we're talking about.

The son of God did that for us. He didn't just snap his finger and say, you know what, I'm gonna save you from hell. The son of God absorbed the justice that you and I deserved. And this is what we celebrate. When we do not recognize this, we just come to church, check off the things that we're obligated to do, and yet there's no joy in our lives.

You notice that he doesn't say we will come to Zion, but he says we have come to Zion, we have come. Heaven is the ultimate fulfillment of what he already started. So we don't live in misery until we get to heaven. That life is restored now. Here, but not fully fulfilled yet.

So the greatest evidence of true salvation is the worship that God inspires because of what he has done. You know, you and I live in one of the richest places in the world. Even if you live in a one bedroom apartment in the worst neighborhoods in this area, in Orange County, you're still living in the most expensive place in the world.

And I'm not just talking about in our generation, in all the generations put together. The kind of access that we have. Boba is a luxury that poor people, go to Africa and ask them, you wanna get some boba? I said, boba, what's boba? Well, I gotta go with garage sale.

Garage sale, what's garage sale? Internet, huh, I heard of it. And yet, more than not, people live in want. I don't have enough. 'Cause we get on the internet, or we come to church and we compare ourselves with people who have a bit more than we have. And though we are rich beyond the imagination of the rest of the world, we live every day thinking, only if I had a little bit more.

But we do the same thing spiritually. The Bible says that everything that you and I need for a life of godliness has been given to us in the knowledge of his son, Jesus Christ. Everything that you and I need has been given to us in the riches of his glory, and yet most Christians live their lives thinking, only if I had more.

Only if I had better community. Only if I had better teaching. Only if I had better this and better that. Not realizing what it is that we have in Christ. So instead of worshiping, we crumble. You see, if we don't realize what we have been saved from in Sinai, we come to Zion and we're bored.

And sad to say, this is the state of our generation. Christians who profess the right things with their mouth, but bored in their walk with God. So worship is an obligation. Discipleship is an obligation. Sharing is an obligation. Prayer is an obligation. What do I have to do to help me belong to this community?

Yet, what does Jesus say? There's gonna come a time where he's not gonna be asking, are you worshiping this mountain or that mountain? But he's seeking people who will worship him in spirit and in truth. Let me conclude with this, because this is one of my favorite passages, and those of you who've been in our church for a while, you know, I've read this so many times, but I'm gonna read to you again.

It's this whole drama of the gospel that is portrayed in the book of Revelations chapter five. In verse one it says, "I saw in the right hand of him "who sat on the throne a book written inside "and on the back, sealed up with seven seals." Well, this book he's referring to in other passages in Revelation is referred to as the book of life.

And the book of life basically is, who can be at Zion? That's basically what it is. Who can be in the presence of this holy God? And he says, "And I saw a strong angel "proclaim with a loud voice, "'Who is worthy to open up the book and break its seal?'" In other words, who can take a look, who can be added to this?

"No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth "was able to open the book or to look into it. "Then I began to weep greatly "because no one was found worthy to open the book "or to look into it." In other words, oh, what a wretched man.

There's no hope, no one can open it up. Verse five, "And one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping. "Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, "the root of David, has overcome, "as so as to open the book and its seven seals." So he says the lion of Judah is coming.

He is able, no one else is able but the lion of Judah. And clearly he's referring to Jesus. The lion of Judah is the Messiah that's going to come. He says he will come. And so John turns his head to look for the lion of Judah and verse six says, "And I saw between the throne "with the four living creatures, the elders, "a lamb standing as if slain.

"Having seven horns and seven eyes, "which are the seven spirits of God, "sent out into all the earth. "And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him "who sat on the throne. "When he had taken the book, "the four living creatures and the 24 elders "fell down before the lamb, "each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, "which are prayers of the saints.

"And they sang a new song." Man, lion of Judah, he turns to look for the lion and he sees the lamb. Because we could not go to the lion, he came as a lamb and covered us with his blood. And it is this picture that is portrayed for us that causes him to break out in worship and singing a new song.

This is a description of the church. This is a description of the church. People who have seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ can help themselves, but to break out in worship, not because it's time to worship, not because they prepared a great set, not because we heard a great message, but because we're before a great God.

Why would you do this for us? Why would you send your only begotten son? I know my sins better than you do. I can pick any period of my life, even after I became a Christian, that I would have easily been disqualified. And you know your sins better than anybody else.

You know what you do in secret. You know the compromises that you fall into. You know how easily you get entangled with this world. You know how much you hated God because he didn't answer your prayers and things didn't work out the way you wanted to. And yet he continues to invite us to come.

Why would he do that? Why would he do that? That's the church. Church filled with people who have no answer to his love. And so we sing a new song. A song that can never be inspired by anything in this world. No amount of young love, no amount of love and treasures in this world that would inspire you like the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's the Zion. That he's referring to. And that's why we need to understand Sinai. Because his invitation is to Zion. I actually wanna sing a new song with you. It's not a new song, it's actually an old song. In fact, everything I know is old. Amazing Grace, written by John Newton.

Former slave trader, by his own admission, was worst of sinners. And I think, humanly speaking, we could agree. He lived his adult life doing horrendous things for slave trading. And on one of his journeys, the boat hits a storm and the ship's about to sink. As he's in the water, he begs God for mercy.

If you save me from this, I will repent and serve you. And that's exactly what happens. Doesn't happen overnight, but he kept his promise. He repents, he lets go of the slave trade. In fact, he lives the rest of his life fighting slave trading because he understands the evil of slave trading.

He's the man behind William Wilberforce who fought against slavery in England. And so he writes a song, Amazing Grace, to basically as a testimony of his life. It starts, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound." You know, we say that word, amazing grace, so often, but we don't take enough time to actually ask, is it really amazing?

Is it just words that we say? I think when he penned it, he knew. He knew how amazing that he would save a wretch like me. You know, we may look at that and say, well, I never traded slaves, and I didn't do anything to deserve to go to jail.

But in the presence of this holy God, our testimony is no different. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was loved, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.

I mean, it's so profound. He said the fact that he recognized the terror of God was the grace of God. And it was that same grace that relieved him from that fear that he can get to Zion. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. Maybe many of us can remember the first hour we believed, right?

How much he meant for us. We broke out into songs. But so many years of being concerned for life, raising children, so many years have gone by, and we can't confess that that's where we are now. How precious did the grace appear the hour I first believed. Remember the height from which you had fallen.

Repent and do the things that you did at first. And it's a call back to our first love. The Lord hath promised good to me. His word my hope secures. He will my shield portion be as long as life endures. He's our mediator. He protects us. His blood covers us.

When we've been there 10,000 years, Zion, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. That this new song is never gonna get old. It's never gonna get old. 10,000 years and we've just begun. And this is a man who understands God's grace.

This is why it's so important for us to recognize the full counsel of God. That we know what it is that we have in Christ so that we may worship him in spirit and in truth. If you would stand up with us and then we're gonna have our praise team lead us in this song.

So I know this is a song that we probably sung many, many times, but I pray that you would sing this with a renewed fervor, understanding the words that this would not just be a song that we sing, but our own testimony. Amen. (gentle music) Amazing grace. ♪ Amazing grace ♪ ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ ♪ I once was lost ♪ ♪ But now am found ♪ ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ ♪ 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear ♪ ♪ And grace my fears relieved ♪ ♪ How precious did that grace appear ♪ ♪ The hour I first believed ♪ ♪ The Lord has promised good ♪ ♪ To me ♪ ♪ His word my hope secures ♪ ♪ He will my shield and portion be ♪ ♪ As long as life endures ♪ ♪ As long as life endures ♪ ♪ And we've been there 10,000 years ♪ ♪ Bright shining as the sun ♪ ♪ We've no less days to sing God's praise ♪ ♪ Than when we first begun ♪ No less days.

♪ We've no less days to sing God's praise ♪ ♪ Than when we first begun ♪ Amen, let's pray. First Peter 2.6, for this is contained in scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chosen stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed. Lord, we pray that you would continue to open our ears, that we may hear your voice and to know the hope that we have in Christ.

Know, Lord God, the precious gift that we have been given in his name, that we may dwell in your presence forever. I pray, Father God, that this truth would transform us, renew us, motivate us, that wherever it is that you send us this week, that we may be his witness.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. ♪ God sent his son ♪ ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ Heal and forgive ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To buy my poor bit ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to put my Savior's lips ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because he lives ♪ Amen.

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