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This Is Your Spiritual Worship (Exodus 20) · Prodigal Hope

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SPEAKER_00: Well,
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SPEAKER_00: I have to be honest with you right out of the gate that this was not,
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most of what we're going to hopefully cover this morning is not
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what my original
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intention was when I started out thinking about how we're going
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to get through all
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SPEAKER_00: of these 10 commandments.
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SPEAKER_00: and what are we going to do and all that kind of stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to.
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We're in a series about the people of God in the Exodus being
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formed into God's people.
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We're using that as sort of a window to see how God does
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something similar as he
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SPEAKER_00: forms us into his church.
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And I didn't want to have a series and then have a mini-series
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on each of the Ten Commandments.
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And yet,
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of course,
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God has other plans,
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hence what we're going to cover this morning,
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mostly.
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SPEAKER_00: Last week,
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SPEAKER_00: of course,
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SPEAKER_00: we spent a lot of time sort of laying a lot of groundwork,
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laying a foundation for most of what we're going to find
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throughout the rest of the
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SPEAKER_00: book of Exodus,
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SPEAKER_00: where we emphasized the purpose of God's...
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God's laws,
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especially the purpose of the law and the lives of those who
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are redeemed.
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SPEAKER_00: And we showed how the law is not a ladder.
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It's not this thing that we could climb rung by rung,
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higher up into God's favor.
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SPEAKER_00: We can get more of his approval.
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SPEAKER_00: No, the law is a mirror.
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SPEAKER_00: It shows us our failures.
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SPEAKER_00: And it's also, as we believe in who Jesus is, the law is a guide.
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SPEAKER_00: We talked all about that.
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SPEAKER_00: And although not every,
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SPEAKER_00: as we're going to find,
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SPEAKER_00: not every precept,
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SPEAKER_00: not every command,
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SPEAKER_00: not everything that we read here is still in effect for us,
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SPEAKER_00: as we're going to find out later.
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SPEAKER_00: But by looking at all of these laws and commands,
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SPEAKER_00: all of these precepts that God gives to his people,
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SPEAKER_00: what we're finding out is,
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SPEAKER_00: is that God cares deeply about the way that his people live.
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SPEAKER_00: I think that's one thing that we can definitely take away,
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SPEAKER_00: that God cares about the way in which his people live.
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One of the reasons why God is giving all of these laws to his
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people is to draw a
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very clear line of distinction between those who belong to him
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and those who don't.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the way that my people look, essentially.
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And the point wasn't that God's people were supposed to be
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different just for the
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SPEAKER_00: mere sake of being different.
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SPEAKER_00: Rather, they were to demonstrate by how they lived.
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To demonstrate what the one true God can do and will do through
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those who love him
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SPEAKER_00: and fear him and trust him and follow him.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what God is doing through his people, Israel.
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SPEAKER_00: Israel, we could say, was a conduit.
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SPEAKER_00: They were a channeled.
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By which Yahweh,
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the one true living God,
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would make himself known to the nations.
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SPEAKER_00: And as they loved him,
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SPEAKER_00: and as they feared him,
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SPEAKER_00: as they followed him with all of their heart,
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SPEAKER_00: soul,
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SPEAKER_00: mind,
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SPEAKER_00: and strength,
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SPEAKER_00: they're serving the one who brought them out of bondage.
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SPEAKER_00: And at the same time,
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God is revealing what he originally promised all the way back
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with Father Abraham.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember Genesis 12,
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SPEAKER_00: how God is covenanting with Father Abraham,
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SPEAKER_00: and he tells them that through your offspring,
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SPEAKER_00: Abraham,
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SPEAKER_00: through you,
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SPEAKER_00: What does he say?
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SPEAKER_00: All of the nations of the earth would be blessed.
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They're a conduit for the way in which God is going to reveal
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who he is to the world.
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SPEAKER_00: And one of the primary ways,
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SPEAKER_00: of course,
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SPEAKER_00: one of the most essential ways,
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SPEAKER_00: that God is setting apart his people,
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SPEAKER_00: sanctifying his people,
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SPEAKER_00: is not only who they worship,
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SPEAKER_00: Yahweh,
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SPEAKER_00: but also how they worship.
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SPEAKER_00: The first three commands...
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SPEAKER_00: The first two is what I want to look at this morning.
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SPEAKER_00: But these first several commands here in the so-called Ten Commandments,
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SPEAKER_00: they all deal with the same thing.
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SPEAKER_00: Look again at verse number three.
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SPEAKER_00: You shall have no other gods before me.
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You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness
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of anything that is
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in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in
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the water beneath.
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SPEAKER_00: Under the earth.
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SPEAKER_00: You know it may sound simple.
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SPEAKER_00: But the point I want to stress this morning is.
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SPEAKER_00: God cares.
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SPEAKER_00: God cares about how he is worshipped.
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SPEAKER_00: God cares about the way in which we draw attention to his name.
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SPEAKER_00: How we ascribe homage and worth to who he is.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what it means to worship.
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SPEAKER_00: And God cares about how that is done.
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SPEAKER_00: Especially since.
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This is one of the primary reasons why Israel was liberated
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from slavery in the first place.
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SPEAKER_00: Go back with me to Exodus chapter 5.
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I want you to notice this theme as it carries through these
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beginning chapters of
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SPEAKER_00: the book of Exodus.
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SPEAKER_00: Notice chapter 5 and look at verse 1.
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The word of the Lord says,
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Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh,
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SPEAKER_00: Thus says the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: So they're speaking on behalf of Yahweh, on behalf of God.
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SPEAKER_00: Thus says the Lord,
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SPEAKER_00: the God of Israel,
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SPEAKER_00: let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.
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SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
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SPEAKER_00: Flip over to chapter number seven and look at verse number 16.
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SPEAKER_00: The word of Lord says, and you shall say to him, the Lord says,
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SPEAKER_00: The God of the Hebrews sent me to you saying,
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SPEAKER_00: let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness.
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SPEAKER_00: Flip over one more chapter.
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SPEAKER_00: Chapter eight, verse one.
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SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord said to Moses,
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SPEAKER_00: go into Pharaoh and say to him,
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SPEAKER_00: thus says the Lord,
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SPEAKER_00: let my people go that they may serve me.
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SPEAKER_00: And on and on it goes.
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SPEAKER_00: You can find the same thing repeated in chapter nine and in chapter 10.
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SPEAKER_00: God is stressing the point that these people are mine.
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I'm calling them to myself and I'm bringing them out and I'm
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just going to release
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SPEAKER_00: them into the wild.
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SPEAKER_00: No,
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I'm bringing them out so that they may serve or rather the word
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is to minister or
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SPEAKER_00: to worship me.
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I'm bringing my people out so that I can draw these people to
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myself and that they
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SPEAKER_00: can worship,
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SPEAKER_00: they can ascribe worth to the God who delivered them.
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SPEAKER_00: The exodus...
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SPEAKER_00: As we've drawn this point already,
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SPEAKER_00: the Exodus was more than just about being freed from the horrible,
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SPEAKER_00: tyrannical grip of Pharaoh.
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SPEAKER_00: It was, yes, about that.
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SPEAKER_00: God was doing that for his people, the people of promise.
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SPEAKER_00: But it was also about his people, how they would belong to him.
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And they belonged to him as worshippers entirely,
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body,
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soul,
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mind,
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strength.
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SPEAKER_00: And this, I would hasten to say, is true for the church as well.
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SPEAKER_00: That we belong to him.
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SPEAKER_00: To God alone.
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SPEAKER_00: We've made this point.
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SPEAKER_00: It bears repeating.
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SPEAKER_00: That what Jesus has accomplished for us.
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SPEAKER_00: Death, resurrection.
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SPEAKER_00: We can say that's the true and better exodus.
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Where God himself brings us out of bondage,
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out of slavery to sin,
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death,
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and darkness.
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SPEAKER_00: And he brings us to himself.
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SPEAKER_00: And by the same token, he's not just releasing us into the wild.
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SPEAKER_00: He's bringing us and he's teaching us,
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SPEAKER_00: he's showing us,
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SPEAKER_00: he's fashioning us into a people who worship.
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Into a people who ascribe all worth,
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honor,
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glory,
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praise,
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blessing to him.
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SPEAKER_00: This, that message, the gospel, it takes weary sinners, yes.
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SPEAKER_00: But it turns them and not just saves them.
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SPEAKER_00: It's not just a rescue mission.
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SPEAKER_00: It is that.
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SPEAKER_00: But it's also what turns us into just grace-filled worshipers.
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SPEAKER_00: Where worship is just spilling out of our lips.
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SPEAKER_00: The message that we preach, that we emphasize.
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SPEAKER_00: That Jesus is God's gift to us.
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SPEAKER_00: God's gift of peace and life and pardon.
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SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's all of those things.
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SPEAKER_00: But he's also the one who frees.
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SPEAKER_00: He liberates us to worship and serve God without fear.
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And in fact,
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the writer of Hebrews,
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he gets to this point in the New Testament.
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SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 9.14.
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The writer of Hebrews says that it's the blood of Christ that
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purifies us from dead works.
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SPEAKER_00: To what?
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SPEAKER_00: To serve God.
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SPEAKER_00: The living God.
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SPEAKER_00: It's the same motion.
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SPEAKER_00: We're freed to serve.
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SPEAKER_00: Just as Israel was freed by God.
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SPEAKER_00: To serve God.
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SPEAKER_00: We too have been freed by Christ.
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SPEAKER_00: To serve.
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SPEAKER_00: To worship Christ.
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SPEAKER_00: The gospel is not just about.
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Escaping some sort of dreadful eternity is about participating
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right now in a
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SPEAKER_00: hopeful,
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SPEAKER_00: in a worshipful life with God right where we are.
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SPEAKER_00: Reflecting his glory to all of those who we live with.
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SPEAKER_00: God cares about how he's worshipped.
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And this isn't meant to be a commentary on sort of the types of
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worship services
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SPEAKER_00: you're going to find all across the country.
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SPEAKER_00: Because they're all different.
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SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't say that we've quote-unquote figured it out.
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SPEAKER_00: Baptists have a different way to worship than Presbyterians.
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SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
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SPEAKER_00: We have a different way than Methodists and Lutherans.
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SPEAKER_00: If you go into different Baptist churches,
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SPEAKER_00: you're going to find different ways that we worship,
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SPEAKER_00: different orders of service,
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SPEAKER_00: different little things that we all do,
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SPEAKER_00: the different little nuances.
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SPEAKER_00: We're not really talking about all that.
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What we're talking about are some of the most basic building
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blocks of what does it
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SPEAKER_00: actually mean
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SPEAKER_00: To worship the one true living God.
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SPEAKER_00: What does that actually mean?
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SPEAKER_00: You know according to all of the latest data and trends.
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SPEAKER_00: If you're into those sorts of things and you do some Google searching.
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SPEAKER_00: You can find a lot of data, a lot of surveys, a lot of polls.
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SPEAKER_00: And according to all of them.
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SPEAKER_00: We are living in a very unique and dare I say unprecedented era.
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SPEAKER_00: One where worship,
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SPEAKER_00: and what it means when the church gathers to worship God,
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SPEAKER_00: that is constantly being modified and redefined.
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've seen this.
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SPEAKER_00: You've seen the headlines about how the pastor, he ziplined in church.
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SPEAKER_00: Have you seen that?
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SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's on the budget for next year's Easter.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
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SPEAKER_00: Or have you seen the one where some of the pastors and his wife,
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SPEAKER_00: they come up and they're dressed in Toy Story outfits?
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SPEAKER_00: Attendance,
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SPEAKER_00: if you look at all the numbers,
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SPEAKER_00: church attendance,
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SPEAKER_00: it doesn't matter what the nomination,
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SPEAKER_00: it's declining.
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SPEAKER_00: Participation is also declining.
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SPEAKER_00: This is data from the last several decades.
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SPEAKER_00: And throughout those decades,
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there's been a rapid shift within churches to this sort of
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consumer-driven way that
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SPEAKER_00: we gather.
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Where all these gatherings were reshaped by screens and
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personal preferences and
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SPEAKER_00: people dressing up and people doing crazy stunts.
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SPEAKER_00: And all the while, the church is losing everything.
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SPEAKER_00: It's central place in people's lives.
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And I feel like the church's leaders are getting,
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they're learning the wrong lessons.
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They're seeing that the church is losing its centrality in the
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lives of the people
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SPEAKER_00: that are around them.
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SPEAKER_00: So they think that they have to do something crazier.
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And soon the church is just becoming another thing to add to
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the schedule.
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SPEAKER_00: Something that we fit in if we can.
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SPEAKER_00: And I say all that to say this,
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I think we've lost the plot on what it means to worship the one
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true living God.
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe we should let him tell us what it looks like.
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe we should let his word tell us what it means.
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SPEAKER_00: Because if we get this first commandment wrong,
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SPEAKER_00: if we get this wrong,
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SPEAKER_00: that you shall have no other gods before me,
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SPEAKER_00: everything else gets taken out of whack.
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SPEAKER_00: Everything else doesn't fall into place.
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SPEAKER_00: And when God says this, you shall have no other gods before me.
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SPEAKER_00: He's not sort of beating around the bush.
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SPEAKER_00: He's making it very plain.
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SPEAKER_00: Only me, only I, only me is worthy of worship.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm the only one.
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SPEAKER_00: There's no space for any other deity to take my place.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's saying.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a refrain that's repeated throughout the Old Testament.
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SPEAKER_00: Psalms, the prophets.
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And yet I hasten to say that even these words,
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you shall have no other gods before me
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Even those words are sometimes slightly misunderstood because
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when we read that,
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SPEAKER_00: when we read that God's people,
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SPEAKER_00: they're not going to have any other gods before him,
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I think sometimes our minds immediately go to some sort of
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ranking system.
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SPEAKER_00: First, second, third.
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And the point that we'd often make is the Lord doesn't want to
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be relegated to second place.
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SPEAKER_00: God doesn't take, he doesn't play second fiddle.
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SPEAKER_00: But as true as that is,
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SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's exactly what God is saying here.
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SPEAKER_00: He's not just worried about being put into second or third place.
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SPEAKER_00: God wants more than first place.
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You see the word before,
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it means besides,
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or it actually means in addition to.
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He will suffer no other gods in addition to him,
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no matter what ranking you put them in.
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SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter where they are in your so-called ranking system.
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SPEAKER_00: No, they have to get out.
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SPEAKER_00: He's the only one
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SPEAKER_00: He's the only one worthy of devotion and worth and honor and blessing.
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SPEAKER_00: He's the only one that is worth devoting your whole entire life to.
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SPEAKER_00: You see,
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the relationship of God's people with God himself is not like
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some sort of Olympic
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SPEAKER_00: medal podium with rankings and tiers.
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SPEAKER_00: And as long as God is on top tier number one, then that's cutting it.
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SPEAKER_00: No.
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SPEAKER_00: He will suffer no other rival.
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SPEAKER_00: No.
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SPEAKER_00: No one can even come close.
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SPEAKER_00: He has no patience for the passing thought that any other deity,
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SPEAKER_00: any other God is worth putting in the same category as him.
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SPEAKER_00: No, you shall have no other gods.
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SPEAKER_00: No other gods in addition to me.
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SPEAKER_00: No other gods even in my sight is what that word basically means.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is how God's people are to be set apart.
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SPEAKER_00: Right?
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SPEAKER_00: That their God,
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SPEAKER_00: their God,
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SPEAKER_00: Yahweh,
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SPEAKER_00: he's not just the mightiest,
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SPEAKER_00: the chiefest,
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SPEAKER_00: the first in a pantheon of gods.
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SPEAKER_00: No, he's the one and only.
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SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 4.
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SPEAKER_00: The Lord is God.
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SPEAKER_00: There is no other besides him.
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SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 32.
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SPEAKER_00: See now that I, even I am he, and there is no God beside me.
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SPEAKER_00: 1 Chronicles 17.
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SPEAKER_00: There is no God besides you.
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SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah chapter 9.
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SPEAKER_00: You are the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: You alone.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the confession of God's people.
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SPEAKER_00: And this,
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SPEAKER_00: of course,
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SPEAKER_00: is vastly different than all of the religions and pagan nations that were
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SPEAKER_00: surrounding God's people,
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SPEAKER_00: most of whom were pluralistic or polytheistic.
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They were freighted with hundreds upon hundreds of deities for
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this,
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that,
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and the other thing.
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Things that they were meant and they were prescribed to bow
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down to or pay homage to.
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SPEAKER_00: We saw this when we went through all of the plagues.
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SPEAKER_00: And all of the deities that filled the pantheon of Egypt.
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But from the very beginning,
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God's people were being set apart for a different program.
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For an entirely different way to communicate with the one true
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living God.
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SPEAKER_00: Namely, that they were devoted to him singularly.
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SPEAKER_00: When God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember Genesis 11?
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SPEAKER_00: The thought being, and the thought often is sort of made.
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SPEAKER_00: The point is made.
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That Abraham was formerly an idolater,
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living in an idolatrous region of the world.
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SPEAKER_00: And yet God snatched him out of that, called him out of all of that.
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SPEAKER_00: When he calls him to leave behind his home,
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SPEAKER_00: it means leave me behind all of that other stuff too.
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SPEAKER_00: And he's inviting him.
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SPEAKER_00: God invites Abraham.
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The father of these people to singular devotion to and worship
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of God alone.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's inviting him to.
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SPEAKER_00: That this is what's going to be true of all my people.
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SPEAKER_00: You'll have no other gods but me.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm going to fill all of the nooks and crannies of your life.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm going to fill every space.
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SPEAKER_00: And just so his people didn't miss the point.
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SPEAKER_00: What does God add further?
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How does he further stress what it means to have no other gods
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before him?
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SPEAKER_00: Well, look back, Exodus 20, verse 4.
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You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness
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of anything that is
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in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in
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the water under the
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SPEAKER_00: earth.
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SPEAKER_00: Here he's elaborating further.
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SPEAKER_00: Because all of those other religions,
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SPEAKER_00: most of whom,
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SPEAKER_00: those systems of faith,
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SPEAKER_00: most of whom had multiple deities,
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SPEAKER_00: also had multiple,
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SPEAKER_00: they were filled with trinkets and totems,
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SPEAKER_00: little idols that people would bow down to and pay homage to and worship.
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SPEAKER_00: And yet, here again, what are we seeing?
18:08
SPEAKER_00: God's people are being set apart from all of that.
18:11
No,
18:11
you are being set apart in a much entirely different,
18:14
more fulfilling way.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Because instead...
18:19
SPEAKER_00: Of the worshipper taking something and hand carving something,
18:23
SPEAKER_00: crafting an idol to worship for themselves.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: No, what's happening?
18:27
Yahweh,
18:28
God,
18:28
the one true God,
18:30
is informing his people how they are supposed to worship.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Not like that.
18:36
You see the problem with idols or carved images so to speak is
18:40
that you were
18:41
SPEAKER_00: reducing God to whatever form your imagination was giving credence to.
18:47
Whatever form,
18:47
whatever image that you could create,
18:49
you're reducing God to that.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: And Yahweh isn't interested in that.
18:57
God isn't interested in his people deciding what form or
19:02
appearance or revelation
19:04
SPEAKER_00: he should take.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: Why?
19:05
SPEAKER_00: That's God's prerogative.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: He reveals himself to his people as he so chooses.
19:12
That's sort of the awesome point that we find throughout all of
19:16
scripture.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: That the God whom even heaven can't contain.
19:23
One of his sincerest and chiefest delights is revealing who he
19:27
is in ways that he chooses.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: Well, how do we know this?
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Because in a few weeks we're going to get there.
19:32
What do we find as God is regulating and articulating all of
19:36
the tabernacle
19:37
SPEAKER_00: furniture and protocol?
19:39
SPEAKER_00: What does all that do?
19:40
SPEAKER_00: He's revealing himself through all of those things.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: But it's things that he is deciding upon.
19:46
You're going to have this table here and you're going to light
19:48
this here.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: You're going to place this here.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: You're going to have this altar here.
19:51
He's showing them how he wants to reveal himself and how his
19:55
people are being called to worship.
19:58
And of course,
19:58
of course,
19:59
we know Israel had a terrible time following these commands.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: Reading the history of Israel is like reading a history of idolaters.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they broke the first two before the ink was dry, right?
20:16
SPEAKER_00: We know the story, Exodus 32.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read a couple of verses from there just so you see it.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get here in a couple of weeks.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: So this is sort of, we're jumping to the future a little bit.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: But Exodus 32, what happens?
20:33
SPEAKER_00: When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain,
20:38
SPEAKER_00: the people gathered themselves together and said to Aaron...
20:43
up make us gods who shall go before us as for this Moses the
20:50
man who brought us up
20:51
out of the land of Egypt we do not know what has become of him
20:54
so Aaron said to
20:55
them take off the thing the rings of gold that are in the ears
20:59
of your wives your
21:00
SPEAKER_00: sons and your daughters and bring them to me
21:03
And so all the people took off the rings of gold that were in
21:05
their ears and
21:06
SPEAKER_00: brought them to Aaron.
21:07
And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with
21:10
a graving tool and
21:11
SPEAKER_00: made a golden calf.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: He's literally making a carved image.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: And they said, these are your gods.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: What blasphemy.
21:24
These are your gods,
21:25
O Israel,
21:26
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: And Aaron made a proclamation, Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.
21:35
And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings
21:38
and brought peace offerings.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
21:42
They didn't even think,
21:43
they didn't even bat an eye about what they had just
21:46
perpetrated.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: Moses is gone.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: He's gone back up from the mountain again.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: One of the seven times that he has gone down and come back up.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: He's delaying.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: He's not coming back as fast as previous instances.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: And so everyone's going restless.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly Aaron takes matters into his own hands.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: Melting all this gold down.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: And he forges an idol.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: He forges an image.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: And to make matters even worse, he credits it.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: He credits it with what actually saved them.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: Here is the God that brought you up out of Egypt.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: The audacity.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Consider what they have just witnessed.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: Remember Exodus chapter 19?
22:30
SPEAKER_00: And God is coming down onto the mountain.
22:32
Thunder,
22:33
lightning,
22:34
clouds of smoke,
22:35
and a voice that booms out of the thunderhead.
22:39
Yet Aaron has the audacity to make this little thing and say,
22:43
this is the God that saved you.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: And from there, of course, idolatry never really left God's people.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: It's sort of like a nasty case of gangrene on their lives.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: It was an affection that was never rooted out.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: And in fact,
23:02
SPEAKER_00: one of the things that you can find if you read the books of like,
23:05
SPEAKER_00: let's say,
23:05
SPEAKER_00: 1 and 2 Kings.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: What you'll always,
23:09
SPEAKER_00: not always,
23:09
but what you'll mostly find is when a king has a revival and he
23:13
turns the people's
23:14
SPEAKER_00: hearts back to God.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: What is the phrase that you'll find?
23:16
SPEAKER_00: And yet the high places remained.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: What is that a little hint of?
23:23
That they're getting rid of God mostly except for this little
23:26
corner back over here.
23:28
They're keeping some of their idols even as they're trying to
23:33
turn their hearts back to God.
23:38
They even suffer a repeat of the golden calf and the fiasco
23:42
that that brought on God's people.
23:45
I want you to see this just because of the irony of it and the
23:48
pattern of it.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Go with me to 1 Kings chapter number 12.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: 1 Kings 12, a really fascinating scene.
23:58
If you remember this scene,
23:59
this is right after a sort of civil war breaks out.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: The united nation of Israel is now broke apart into two kingdoms,
24:08
SPEAKER_00: Israel and Judah,
24:09
SPEAKER_00: a northern and a southern region.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: And here, what do we find?
24:13
SPEAKER_00: Jeroboam, he's newly appointed, self-appointed king.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: And what does he do?
24:20
SPEAKER_00: How does he secure his throne?
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Look at what happens.
24:24
Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and
24:28
lived there.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: And he went out from there and built Penuel.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: And Jeroboam said in his heart, notice this.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David.
24:37
If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the
24:40
Lord at Jerusalem,
24:41
SPEAKER_00: then the heart of this people will turn again to their Lord,
24:44
SPEAKER_00: to Rehoboam,
24:45
SPEAKER_00: king of Judah.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: And they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: So the king said,
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Notice what his response was.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: The king took counsel and made two calves of gold.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: And he said to the people, you have gone up to Jerusalem long enough.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: And he set one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: And this thing became a sin for the people.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: Went as far as Dan to be before one man.
25:19
He also made temples on high places and appointed priests among
25:22
all the peoples who
25:23
SPEAKER_00: were not of the Levites.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: And so it goes.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: What is he doing?
25:27
SPEAKER_00: This king, he's thinking pragmatically in some ways.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: Jeroboam sees what is happening.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want his people going back down south to Jerusalem.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: No, no.
25:37
If you go there,
25:38
if you go in a pilgrimage there,
25:40
we may never get you back.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: And then what are we going to do?
25:44
I'm going to keep losing citizens because they keep going back
25:46
to Jerusalem.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: Back to where David was.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: The city of David at least.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: So.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: To fix that.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: He sets up two idols.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: Two idols which wouldn't,
26:03
SPEAKER_00: no sort of historical Israelites would look at these and be like,
26:07
SPEAKER_00: I've never seen that before.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: No,
26:08
SPEAKER_00: everyone should have in their minds,
26:10
SPEAKER_00: ringing in their minds,
26:11
SPEAKER_00: what happened at Sinai with Aaron.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Two golden calves are being forged.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: And he's putting them in two different places.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: And he also appoints his own priests.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: And he institutes his own feasts.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: And he even,
26:23
SPEAKER_00: did you notice,
26:23
SPEAKER_00: he rehearses the same excuse,
26:26
SPEAKER_00: the same justification that Aaron rehearsed.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: Here's your God, the one who brought you up out of Egypt.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: The audacity to claim that as worship.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: This wasn't worship.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: This was political pragmatism.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: Motivated by control.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: Motivated by convenience.
26:47
And you know,
26:48
we have to think,
26:49
just like the Israelites,
26:50
they didn't even bat an eye.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: They made the golden calf,
26:52
SPEAKER_00: they worshipped,
26:53
SPEAKER_00: and they're going to wake up the next day and continue worshipping.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: It says that they went and they played.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: Jeroboam, I would, it's not here in the text, but I'm just surmising.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: He probably slept quite soundly.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: He did this thing, he made these two images, and he's sleeping good.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't thinking about abandoning God.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: He was thinking about preserving his throne.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: He was thinking about protecting his people, or so he thought.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: And yet he never called it what it was.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: Idolatry.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: He's worshiping God.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: In his own way.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: He's adjusting the way to worship the one true law.
27:35
He's adjusting the way we are meant to worship the Lord for
27:40
what works for him.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: For what fits his needs and his programs and his prerogatives.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: For on what feels right.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: And as soon as that happens,
27:51
as soon as you start to adjust what it means to worship the
27:55
Lord based on something
27:57
SPEAKER_00: other than God's words,
27:58
SPEAKER_00: you best believe that we're no longer worshiping the one true God,
28:03
SPEAKER_00: the God who reveals himself in covenants with us.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: We're not worshiping him anymore.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: We're worshiping a God that we've made,
28:12
SPEAKER_00: a God that we can manage,
28:14
SPEAKER_00: a God that is controllable by us.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Whenever we attempt to redefine God to make him more palatable,
28:26
SPEAKER_00: to make him more likable or tolerable in our day,
28:29
SPEAKER_00: we've lost what it means to worship the one true living God.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we can say it like this.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: If the first commandment has to do with worshiping the right God,
28:40
SPEAKER_00: the second one,
28:41
the second commandment has to do with worshiping the right God
28:44
in the right way.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: And what does this have to do with church?
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Most will take Exodus 20, verse number 3 and 4, verse 4 especially.
28:59
And they'll run towards discussions over religious art that
29:02
depicts Jesus or so on and so forth.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: It's a good conversation to have, don't get me wrong.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: We can have that conversation later.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: But I think this has a deeper meaning for us.
29:12
Whenever we come,
29:13
we've talked about this before,
29:15
but I can't escape this question.
29:17
What's going on through your heart and mind and soul when you
29:19
walk through the doors of church?
29:24
SPEAKER_00: I would hasten to say it's probably not always.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to sing or to read God's word.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: It's probably all of the other things that we're all thinking about.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: The worries, what we saw on Facebook two minutes ago.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: the email that we know we have to address on Monday,
29:43
SPEAKER_00: or maybe even right after the service is over.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: Whenever we come into this place,
29:52
SPEAKER_00: we do so,
29:53
SPEAKER_00: or we ought to do so,
29:54
SPEAKER_00: with a singular,
29:56
SPEAKER_00: exclusive purpose to pay homage and ascribe worth to God alone,
30:03
SPEAKER_00: not ourselves.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: The church,
30:06
SPEAKER_00: just like Israel,
30:07
SPEAKER_00: is a people who worship the one who brought us to himself,
30:13
SPEAKER_00: who bought us.
30:14
He purchased us with his own blood,
30:16
his own sacrifice,
30:17
and he brings us to himself.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: He saves us so that we might serve him.
30:21
That's what's happening right here,
30:23
which also means we aren't the center.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: We're not the focus.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: We're not the point of that.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: God is.
30:34
God is the purpose,
30:36
the center,
30:37
the focus of everything that happens in this place.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: Nothing that happens here is about you.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
30:44
Not your preferences,
30:44
not your traditions,
30:45
not your opinions that you hold up as convictions.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm a pastor's kid.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm two times a pastor.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: My granddad was a pastor.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: My dad still is a pastor.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: I've heard a lot of excuses for people leaving church.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not a,
31:05
SPEAKER_00: I'll just say,
31:06
if God is calling you to leave and go to a different church and
31:10
worship there,
31:10
SPEAKER_00: God bless you.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: I've heard people leaving because they just didn't like the temperature.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: That was real.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: It was either too hot or too cold, I can't remember.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: And I know sometimes we get the temperature wrong in here, I'm sorry.
31:25
But if you come into church and you leave church and the only
31:27
thing on your mind
31:28
SPEAKER_00: is,
31:28
SPEAKER_00: man,
31:29
SPEAKER_00: it was too cold in there.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: Have you worshipped the one true living God yet?
31:36
SPEAKER_00: I wish we sang more songs like this.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: Or I wish we didn't sing those ones.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: I wish the church felt more like this.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: I wish we did more of that.
31:50
I think the rest of our lives are so much filled with things
31:55
that put us in the
31:56
SPEAKER_00: position like we're treating everything like Netflix.
32:00
We can just pick and choose and we can get rid of stuff and we
32:02
can choose other things.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: We have the power of choice.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we end up treating God's house like that.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: Where our expectations,
32:14
they're meant to rule because Burger King tells us we have to
32:16
have it our way.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: But the first and the second commandments...
32:22
SPEAKER_00: They don't just tear down literal statues or carved images.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: They demolish both of these words of God.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: They demolish those subtle little idols that are in our hearts,
32:34
SPEAKER_00: that are in our souls,
32:35
SPEAKER_00: that we love to cherish.
32:36
The little ones in the back corner that we don't want to
32:39
acknowledge that they're there.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: The high places that we don't really get rid of.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: Our preferences, our comforts, the things that we want to control.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: And the whole point of all of this is God doesn't negotiate with idols.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: God is not keen on sharing his glory with anything else, anyone else.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: We bow before him and him alone.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm preaching to myself this morning.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm preaching to myself.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: How do we come into church?
33:14
SPEAKER_00: Are we ready to worship?
33:18
SPEAKER_00: As we sung this morning, the one who is still the king.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say to the woman at the well?
33:29
The hour is coming and now is here when true worshipers will
33:33
worship the Father in
33:35
SPEAKER_00: spirit and in truth.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: For the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
33:45
Jesus was telling her as well as us that a new day of worship
33:49
was on the way.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: And in him it had already arrived.
33:55
SPEAKER_00: We cut out all of those idols.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: We come here singularly devoted to the notion,
34:02
to the command that we are coming here to ascribe all worth and
34:05
praise and honor
34:06
SPEAKER_00: and glory and blessing to him.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: And yet the problem is, we know we can't do that.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: At least not totally.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: We can't keep that.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: We can't live up to this.
34:21
We aren't capable enough to declutter our lives and our hearts
34:25
of all of those idols.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: We can't do that on our own.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: No amount of effort that we could ever expend could do that.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: Because we know, we've tried.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: We cut down one and there's another idol that pops up.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: It's like playing whack-a-ball.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: With idols in our hearts.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: You beat one down and another one springs up.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: And this is why John Calvin, the reformer from the 1500s.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: What did he say?
34:50
SPEAKER_00: That the hearts of man are a perpetual forge of idols.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: We just keep making them.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: It's a fitting description of God's people and us included.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: Our hearts are idol factories.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: We seek out substitutes for God, much like God's people.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: We turn to this, that, or the other thing.
35:11
We turn to other things to give us what only God can give us,
35:16
what he delights to give.
35:17
And we can't dethrone those idols of convenience or control or
35:22
comfort just by sheer willpower.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: Because then we'll make an idol out of our willpower.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: The only hope for idol-addicted sinners...
35:37
SPEAKER_00: Like you and like me.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: It's not to do more and to try harder.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: The only hope is a person.
35:46
SPEAKER_00: The only hope is a person.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: The person whose name is Jesus.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: The person who is at the center of God's words for us.
35:56
The person,
35:56
the only person who can stand before God the Father with a
36:01
truly undivided heart.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Because only Jesus can keep all of these commands for us.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: Not as a performer.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: Not as one just trying to do something to get accolades.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: No, he comes and he fulfills all of these commands for us.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: And he shows us.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: He shows us what it has always meant to worship God alone.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: Go with me really quick.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: Hasten to John chapter number 4.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: Because there's this phrase that appears throughout the gospels.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: And it appears on the lips of Jesus.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: Over and over again.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: He tells us why he's here.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: At least one of the reasons.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Look at John 4.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 34.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: He says.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: My food.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: My food.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: Is to do the will of him who sent me.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: And to accomplish his work.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus says.
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SPEAKER_00: That nourishes me.
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SPEAKER_00: That's my food.
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SPEAKER_00: Jump over to the next chapter.
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SPEAKER_00: Chapter number 5.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 30.
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SPEAKER_00: I can do nothing, he says.
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SPEAKER_00: Nothing on my own.
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SPEAKER_00: As I hear, I judge.
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SPEAKER_00: And my judgment is just because I seek.
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SPEAKER_00: I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
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SPEAKER_00: Chapter 6, look at verse 38.
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SPEAKER_00: One page over, perhaps.
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For I have come down from heaven,
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not to do my own will,
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but the will of him who sent me.
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SPEAKER_00: And on it goes.
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SPEAKER_00: Over and over and over again.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus is showing us what worship looks like.
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SPEAKER_00: Laying down the idols of our wills before God the Father.
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And I have come not to do my will,
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not to have it my way,
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but your will be done,
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Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: He shows us and he does it.
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SPEAKER_00: He's the one who actually does it.
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SPEAKER_00: He's the one who actually lives a life of worship.
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SPEAKER_00: For the time he was born to the time he died and rose and ascended.
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SPEAKER_00: He's living a life of worship on our behalf.
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He's demonstrating what it truly looks like not to have any
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other gods except for God himself.
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He's living out perfectly the first commandment every single
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day without flinching.
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SPEAKER_00: Not my will.
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SPEAKER_00: Yours be done.
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SPEAKER_00: And the awesome part, catch this.
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SPEAKER_00: He fulfills the second commandment too.
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In the second commandment,
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don't fabricate any image of God for yourself.
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SPEAKER_00: Don't reduce him to something your hands can manipulate and shape.
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God is telling his people and he's telling us that he will not
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be managed.
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SPEAKER_00: He cannot be domesticated.
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SPEAKER_00: He reveals himself where he wills.
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SPEAKER_00: And how does he do that?
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SPEAKER_00: Well, God himself shows up in flesh and blood.
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SPEAKER_00: Born of a woman.
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SPEAKER_00: And he comes to us wrapped in skin.
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SPEAKER_00: And he walks around in sandals.
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SPEAKER_00: And he shows up as the image of God for his people.
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Jesus was the image that God's people were forbidden to make
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for themselves.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is why it says in Colossians that Jesus himself is what?
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SPEAKER_00: The image of the invisible God.
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SPEAKER_00: Or Hebrews.
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SPEAKER_00: That he.
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SPEAKER_00: is the exact imprint of the Father's nature.
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SPEAKER_00: What does all this mean?
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SPEAKER_00: When you walk through those doors, we come here to worship God.
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SPEAKER_00: You're not here to get God's attention.
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SPEAKER_00: You're not here hoping you can sing good enough to earn God's approval.
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You're not here sort of climbing some spiritual ladder to earn
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more favor from him.
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SPEAKER_00: You enter already accepted and seen and known,
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SPEAKER_00: not because of you,
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SPEAKER_00: but because of him,
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SPEAKER_00: the one who lived perfectly on your behalf.
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SPEAKER_00: You come in already having those gifts on you and for you.
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SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus didn't just show up to show us how to worship.
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SPEAKER_00: He worshiped for us perfectly, completely, all the way to the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: And where we continue to chase idols, what does Jesus say?
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SPEAKER_00: I will always be faithful.
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And where we continue to fail and fumble and fall over
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ourselves,
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what does he say?
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SPEAKER_00: He says, it is finished.
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SPEAKER_00: And that's why.
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SPEAKER_00: Every time the church gathers to worship the Lord...
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SPEAKER_00: We don't gather to get what we want.
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SPEAKER_00: We gather to see him.
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SPEAKER_00: We gather to see him.
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SPEAKER_00: And the more you see him, what do you find?
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SPEAKER_00: The more your life becomes a life of worship.
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SPEAKER_00: The more you see who Jesus is and what he's done for you,
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SPEAKER_00: the more your life is molded and shaped into a living sacrifice,
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SPEAKER_00: Paul tells us,
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SPEAKER_00: that's holy and acceptable to God,
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SPEAKER_00: which is,
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SPEAKER_00: what does he say,
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SPEAKER_00: your spiritual worship.
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SPEAKER_00: The more we see Jesus, the more that's what our lives become.
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SPEAKER_00: The more you see Jesus,
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SPEAKER_00: the one who truly,
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SPEAKER_00: totally,
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SPEAKER_00: and worships God fully and perfectly with a heart full,
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SPEAKER_00: then surrendered to him,
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SPEAKER_00: holding nothing back,
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SPEAKER_00: the more you won't have to force your idols out.
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SPEAKER_00: They won't be able to stay.
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SPEAKER_00: Because God himself is there and there is no other.
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SPEAKER_00: You shall have no other gods before me.
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SPEAKER_00: Why?
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SPEAKER_00: Because he's the only one.
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SPEAKER_00: There is no other.
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No other God that you could find or fabricate for yourself
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could ever give to you
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SPEAKER_00: what God is delighting to give to you.
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SPEAKER_00: He's who we come to worship.
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SPEAKER_00: He is who we come to see.
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SPEAKER_00: He is who we come to gather around and rally around and sing to.
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SPEAKER_00: Yes, God is still God and his son is still king.
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SPEAKER_00: May we sing those words forever.
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SPEAKER_00: And may our lives be lives of worship.
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Ascribing worth and honor and praise and glory and blessing to
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the God who brought
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SPEAKER_00: us out and brought us to himself.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing for all of us.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing in each and every one of our lives.
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SPEAKER_00: He's bringing us to himself so that we may live lives of worship.
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SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.