Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / The Vanity of the Overly Wordy Worship (Ecclesiastes 4:1-16)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

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The Vanity of the Overly Wordy Worship (Ecclesiastes 4:1-16)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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You would take those Bibles and open them to
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the Old Testament wisdom book of Ecclesiastes.
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As we continue in our sermon series through this
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wonderful and yet often neglected book, we are
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not neglecting it here at Fairview. We're just
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moving right along through it. Ecclesiastes chapter
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five focusing. on verses one through seven, and
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I would ask you to follow along with me, for
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this is God's word. Guard your steps when you
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go to the house of God. To draw near to listen
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is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools,
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for they do not know that they are doing evil.
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Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart
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be hasty to utter a word before God, for God
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is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore,
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let your words be few, for a dream comes with
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much business and a fool's voice with many words.
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When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying
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it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what
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you vow. It is better that you should not vow
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than that you should vow and not pay. Let not
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your mouth lead you into sin. Do not say before
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the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should
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God be angry at your voice and destroy the work
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of your hands? For when dreams increase and words
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grow many, there is vanity. But God is the one
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you must fear. Blessed are those who hear and
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keep what is written. Let us pray. Father, we
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bless you and we praise you and we thank you
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for your word. As we hear of a word that speaks
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of worship and as we hear of a word that speaks
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of listening, Lord, would you open up our ears,
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our minds and our hearts to know you and to live
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out your word. These things we ask in Christ's
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name, amen. We have noted it many times in our
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study of Ecclesiastes, how many times that Ecclesiastes
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seems to be referencing Genesis, and especially
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the beginnings of Genesis. And we noted before
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the individual that we call Abel, of Cain and
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Abel. And we noticed how the word for Abel is
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actually the word that is found throughout all
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of Ecclesiastes, and it's actually the word Hevel.
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And we said how much that Abel fits that, because
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for a time Abel was there. And yet because Cain
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rose up and struck him down, then Abel was gone.
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And this is what the word Hevel, vanity, Shows
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us isn't it that it quite literally means a breath
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of vapor a mist that is here and it is gone and
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so as Abel was there for a time then he was gone,
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but You'll notice before that happened. You'll
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remember that Cain and Abel were to offer sacrifices
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and So they come in Genesis chapter 4 to do that
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very thing Abel brought a sacrifice of the firstborn
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of the flock and it was accepted by the Lord.
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Cain's sacrifice, though, was of the fruit of
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the ground and it was rejected. Was it the content
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of the gift that was rejected or was it the content
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of the heart? Well, we don't have to speculate.
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The book of Hebrews actually jumps in here to
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show us it was a heart issue. Hebrews 11 for
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by faith Abel offered the God a more acceptable
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sacrifice than Cain Through which he was commended
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as righteous God commending him by accepting
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his gifts And so we see with Cain and Abel we
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see a very foolish sacrifice, don't we? Is that
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not also what we see in Ecclesiastes chapter
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5? It opens up speaking of this foolish sacrifice
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and what it's really telling us is that we are
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to come bringing the sacrifice of praise before
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the Lord our God and We should come with hearts
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that are ready to worship We should come with
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prepared hearts into the very sanctuary of God
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to offer to God worship that is less than worshipful
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and less than prepared is sinful and it is foolish
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and we must repent of our lackadaisical, our
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casual way of worship. You'll also note here
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within this section that the emphasis on this
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passage is on listening. We must pay attention
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to the very word of God because we were made
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to worship and he tells us how. And so what we
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see within this passage are actually two things
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here, two actions that are part of worship. He
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speaks of sacrificing, and the writer of Ecclesiastes
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speaks of vows. And so let's look at sacrifices
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first. If you read the Old Testament, you do
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see many times that it speaks about sacrifices.
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But sacrifices were never to be done casually.
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Sacrifices were never to be done by the Israelites
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without meaning, without purpose, without heart.
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Isaiah chapter 1 shows that God is sickened by
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Israel's sacrifices because they're done without
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hearts that love him. The book of Amos in chapter
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5 says that God hates their sacrifices because
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they are the sacrifices of fools. Their foolishness
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is shown in that they don't listen. Sacrificing
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without listening is not what God wants. And
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throughout the scriptures we are reminded of
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this. 1 Samuel 15 22 says to obey is better than
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sacrifice. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 shows
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us this incredible time of listening. Hear, O
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Israel, the Lord your God is one. It's as if
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God is saying, hear ye, hear ye, pay attention
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to what I'm telling you. And certainly we remember
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Romans chapter 10 verse 17. Faith comes by what?
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By hearing and hearing by the word of Christ
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and therefore the believer The action the believer
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must have when we come into worship is to listen
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and to listen well. Because how does God speak
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to his people today? He speaks by his word, doesn't
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he? And he does not give his word to be ignored.
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The word of God must always be central in our
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worship. Therefore, we will never have a worship
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service without the reading of God's word. And
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this is not just true in kind of New Covenant,
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New Testament worship. Actually, you can see
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this in Old Testament worship as well, that a
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priest would read from the Scriptures. Nehemiah
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shows us this very well. The priest would read
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from the Scriptures and there would be a time
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of silence. There would be a time for listening.
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It's just like Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 7
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has to say, there is a time to be silent. and
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there's a time to speak and we must really consider
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in whose presence we are when we come for worship
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because what this passage is doing here it's
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not talking about the decided pagan the hard
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-hearted person who doesn't want to have anything
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to do with God no this is speaking about worshipers
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those who desire to come into God's presence
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to lift up their voices and praise and to hear
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from Him, and yet to offer such praise without
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meaning, without heart, without new obedience,
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this is wrong. And so we must be mindful of who
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God is and who we are when we come into His house.
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This also speaks in verse two about our problem.
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It's not just that we don't listen, but we talk
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too much, some of us more than others. But verse
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two puts us in our place, doesn't it? It says,
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be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart
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be hasty to utter a word before God for God is
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in heaven and you are on earth. This is a reminder
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of who God is and who we are. We ought to have
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the spirit of David. This has actually already
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been referenced by Dalton. But Psalm 8, specifically
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verses 3 through 4 should remind us of who we
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are and who God is. For it says, when I look
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at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the
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moon and the stars which you have set in place,
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what is man that you're mindful of him? And what
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is the son of man that you care for him? Indeed,
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God is in heaven and we are on earth. And consider
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even the way that Jesus prays, our Father who
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art in heaven. When we come before God in worship,
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we are addressing the very one who resides in
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heaven and who created the heavens and the earth
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merely by speaking it into existence. And so
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let us respect God. Let us fear God, this text
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says in verse seven. On a day in which we should
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honor our mothers, and as we remember from the
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commandments that we ought to give to respect
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to our fathers and to our mothers and to all
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in positions of respect and honor, how much more
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honor and respect should we have of the eternal,
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almighty, and triune God? This shows us that
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our words are to be few. We are to be humbled
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by God's word and to listen to him. And then
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we get this kind of proverb in verse three, for
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a dream comes with much business and a fool's
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voice with many words. What is this showing us
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here? But that there is, as there is kind of
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a correlation between the busy body and the nightmares
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they have, there's a correlation between the
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man who speaks too much and never listens. We
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must be people who listen, because as this text
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also shows us, to not listen is vanity. To not
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listen is evil. And so we must listen. Now, I
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know what you may be thinking here, as this is
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talking about sacrifices, we're not making sacrifices
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right here. We're not slaughtering lambs here
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in the sanctuary, are we? And so what kind of
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sacrifices do we give? Hebrews chapter 12 28
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through 29 says offer to God acceptable worship
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with reverence and awe for God is a consuming
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fire. We offer a sacrifice of worship and praise.
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We worship the almighty, the eternal and the
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triune God. And when we do so, we should recognize
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that we are in the very presence of holiness.
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Right? We are in the presence of holiness. We
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are like Moses Before the burning bush standing
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on holy ground This should characterize our worship
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this kind of this fear this all this reverence
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this respect of God and There is no place in
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the sanctuary for flippant casual worship We
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are to leave from this sanctuary today saying
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To ourselves and to God. I gave my best in worship
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today. And so as you go home. And maybe you're
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having lunch with the family. Around the table.
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Talk about worship. Talk about the scripture,
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talk about the sermon. And think to yourself,
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did I really give my best in worship today? Too
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many churches. Too many worship services are
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seeking to have the sort of worship that's all
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about me, right? Too many churches are trying
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to entertain people. Too many people are trying
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to make their worship services about the people
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and not about God. We don't have to come up with
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creative means of worship because God tells us
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how he would like to be worshiped in his word.
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But maybe sometimes you leave the sanctuary and
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you say, I didn't really get a lot out of that.
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Friends, that's the wrong statement to make.
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Here's the right question to ask. What did I
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put into worship today? What did I put into worship
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today? Did you listen to the word? Is your Bible
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open? As you are able to read, are you tracking
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with what is being said here? Are you are you
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seeking to understand it and apply it to your
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life? Maybe the preacher isn't your favorite.
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Maybe I'm not, but look beyond the preacher to
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the very word of God. In order that you can say
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Lord, I really listened to you today. But also
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this text seems to speak of preparation for worship,
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doesn't it? There are some very simple and very
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good ways in which we prepare for worship, right?
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And so are we going to bed at a good time in
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order to be well rested for worship? This is
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a way in which we can say, I really gave my best
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in worship. As we like to say around our household
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and as many of you do, church starts on Saturday
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night, doesn't it? So taking care of the things
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that you need to do beforehand on Saturday such
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that you can really give yourself to worship
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but also Are we coming in humility? Right are
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we coming in humility into the sanctuary to worship
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are we coming with repentant? Obedient hearts
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are we praying that God would help us to worship
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another way of preparation is Are we holding
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grudges when we come into worship? Or are we
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settling the score as it is before we come here?
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God's word, especially Matthew 5, tells us to
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do that. We are to make amends with people before
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we come here. And so this is another manner of
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preparation for worship. This is how we can offer
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to God our sacrifice of praise. But you can also
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see, moving on, in verses four through seven,
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the second thing that this is about. This has
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to do with vows, doesn't it? And as I led off
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sharing about a bad sacrifice with Cain, here
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let me show you a bad sacrifice from somebody
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that you may be familiar with, especially if
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you're in the Covenant Sunday School class. We
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studied judges recently. Do you remember Jephthah,
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right? Jephthah makes a bad vow, doesn't he?
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He's coming back from battle and he says, whatever
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comes out of my house to meet me when I return,
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I will offer as a burnt offering. Tragically,
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who comes out the door? His daughter, right?
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His daughter comes through the door. And so notice
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what this is saying here. It's better to not
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vow than to vow and not pay. And as we see from
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some other locations, it's better not to vow
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than to make a foolish vow. Deuteronomy chapter
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23, 21 through 22 says, if you make a vow to
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the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling
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it. For the Lord your God will surely require
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it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But
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if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty
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of sin. Oh, would that Jephthah had read this
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portion, remembered this portion. But it's not
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only negative vows that we see in Scripture,
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we have wonderfully kept vows too. Do you remember
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Hannah? Hannah prayed, she vowed that if the
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Lord would open her womb, this is in 1 Samuel
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1, if the Lord would open her womb and give her
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a child, she would dedicate that child to the
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Lord's service. and she kept her vow. And so
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what this shows us that as breaking of vows is
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terribly sinful and making bad vows is sinful,
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keeping our vows brings glory to God. Now our
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vows may look a good deal different than what's
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talked about here in Ecclesiastes, but we still
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do make vows, right? We make marriage vows. baptism
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vows of our children, membership vows in the
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church, these are taken publicly around us, but
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also in the very presence of God. And so we must
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remember that when we take vows. Remember who
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is listening as you take vows, the holy triune
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God. And this God is always true to his word
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even when we are not. And so remember your vows
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today, friends. Remember your vows that you make
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to your spouse. Remember your membership vows
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and that you give glory to God husbands when
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you love your wives well. Remember your vows
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that you made to this church and know that when
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you keep them, when you support the work and
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the worship of this church, you are keeping your
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membership vows and bringing glory to God. And
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so maybe this seems like a no -brainer, but be
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more like Hannah than Jephthah. Can we do that?
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Why? Verse six. Let not your mouth lead you into
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sin and do not say before the messenger that
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it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at
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your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
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Let not your mouth lead you into sin. This is
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one of the reasons that I think actually Solomon
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wrote this book because it sounds remarkably
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similar to some of the Proverbs. Proverbs 10
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19 when words are many, transgression is not
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lacking. And yet sometimes we do maybe run our
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mouths a little bit. Sometimes we do say foolish
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things. Sometimes we take vows and we don't keep
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them. Sometimes we talk badly about one another.
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And sometimes people leave the church because
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of that. They say those hypocrites over there,
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they say one thing and they do the other thing.
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Friends, this should obviously tell us to keep
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our word. But doesn't this also show us that
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there is no perfect church under the sun? Yes.
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One of the vows that we take is that we are sinners,
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right? I don't know of any other place on the
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planet, I'm sure there is one, other than the
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local church, where in order to be a member you
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have to say, yeah, I'm a sinner. They don't ask
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you that when you go for membership at the gym,
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right? And so we recognize that, that this is
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an imperfect church, right? But isn't that how
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God has always operated, working with imperfect
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people? Do you remember the disciples? Nobody's
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first choice, right? And yet Jesus worked with
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them and he taught them and they were the ones
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who took the church out after his death and resurrection
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and his ascension and the church just exploded
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upon the scene. God has always worked with imperfect
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people. and he's sanctifying us along the way.
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And so today, maybe you need some encouragement
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with your vows. Maybe you need some encouragement
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with your worship. Notice how verse one and verse
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four are written. I'll read part of these again.
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Verse one, guard your steps when you go to the
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house of God. Verse 4, when you vow a vow to
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God. And I think that this is clearly seen in
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most translations. It's a good translation to
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see the word when. Friends, the word is when,
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not if. And so perhaps today, you're struggling
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with that membership vow. Perhaps today, you're
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struggling to love your spouse well. You have
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another opportunity right here, right now. When
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you go, not if. And so yes, there's grace for
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the failure. And Lord willing, if Jesus continues
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to tarry, will we not be right here in the same
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place again next week, again, when, not if? We
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need to be here in order to keep our vows, but
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God is refining us. He is creating, listening
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hearts. He's stirring up our joyful hearts, right?
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And so we keep worshiping. But how can we do
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it? How can we continue to worship? We must remember
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that God keeps his vows. God keeps his. promises.
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Think of some of the most remarkable promises
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in scripture. I really love from John six when
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Jesus says the father will lose nothing that
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he has given to the son or remember the promise
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of the spirit from Joel that comes alive. in
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Acts chapter two. Remember the promise of the
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regenerated heart in the book of Jeremiah. God
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is faithful to all of these promises and that
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knowing that God keeps his promises should stir
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up worship and affection for him. In terms of
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sacrifice, we give our sacrifice of praise because
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Jesus sacrificed his life. and talk about listening,
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talk about an economy of words. Isaiah 53 shows
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us that Jesus was like a lamb led to the slaughter,
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but he opened not his mouth. He opened not his
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mouth, instead enduring all of the pain of the
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very wrath of God for you and for me. And it's
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through him that we have access to the Father.
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Verse two, if you look there again, and as I
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already said, it puts us in a place that God
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is in heaven and you are on earth. Isn't that
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though what Jesus does coming from heaven to
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earth in order to save us? Because of this, we
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have access to the Father. Hebrews chapter 10.
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Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence
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to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,
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by the new and living way that he opened for
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us through the curtain, that is through his flesh,
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and since we have a great high priest over the
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house of God, let us approach with a true heart
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and full assurance of faith. You and I, we can
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be here because of Jesus and his sacrifice for
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us. In short, you worship because Jesus gave
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up his life for you. And so, as I conclude, when
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you're sluggish on Sunday mornings to get here
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and you would rather just continue to slumber,
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listen to the very word of God. Be reminded what
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Jesus did for you. When you find it hard to keep
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your marriage vows after yet another argument,
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remember what Jesus did for you. When your family
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worship maybe isn't going as well as you had
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hoped later today, remember what Jesus did for
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you. Listen to the scriptures. Remember that
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Jesus is your sacrifice and that he is the yes
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and he is the amen. to all of the promises of
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God. Let us pray.