Exodus, Exodus chapter 27. We'll read a few verses there, and then we'll turn to chapter 30. As you're turning there, let me say what a pleasure it is to be with you this weekend. And if you weren't here yesterday, or if you were here, I just want to let you know we're kind of continuing themes that we considered yesterday in this conference on worship. My aim for us this morning is to consider the importance, the primacy of public worship, the privilege of public worship, why it matters so much, and then tonight we're going to consider what it should look like, how we should come to public worship. And we'll look at that from 2 Samuel. Before we read God's Word, let's ask His blessing upon the reading and preaching of it. Father in Heaven, you have given all Scripture for your church, for our edification, that we would be trained up in righteousness, that it would be for our reproof and our correction, for our maturity. We long to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you give us your word as a means to that end. So we pray that your Holy Spirit, the same spirit that inspired these words thousands of years ago, would show up now and would illuminate our hearts and our minds so that we would understand them rightly. And Lord, we beg of you that you would use this time to change and transform us. And that can't happen if we're just listening to a man. We need you to speak. And so we pray that we would not hear Jonathan today, but that we would hear Jesus Christ. That it would be as though the accent of the preacher becomes the accent of our Savior. Would you please bless us in that way? And to overcome the deficiencies of your minister, for they are many. Preach boldly, Lord, by your Spirit's power to the building up of your people. We ask this in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, Amen. Exodus 27. You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square and its height shall be three cubits. You shall make horns for it on its four corners. Its horn shall be of one piece with it and you shall overlay it with bronze. You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes and shovels and basins and forks and firepans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze. And on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. And you shall set it under the ledge of the altar, so that the net extends halfway down the altar. And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. And the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles are on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. You shall make it hollow with boards, as it's been shown you on the mountain, so it shall be made. You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side, the court shall have hangings of fine twine linen, 100 cubits long for one side. Its 20 pillars and their 20 bases shall be of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. Likewise, for its length on the north side, there shall be hangings 100 cubits long, its pillars 20 and their bases 20 of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. And for the breadth of the court on the west side, there shall be hangings for 50 cubits, with 10 pillars and 10 bases. The breadth of the court on the front to the east shall be 50 cubits. The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be 15 cubits, with their 3 pillars and 3 bases. On the other side, the hangings shall be 15 cubits, with their 3 pillars and 3 bases. For the gate of the court there shall be a screen 20 cubits long of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen embroidered with needlework. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases. All the pillars around the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver and their bases of bronze. The length of the court shall be 100 cubits, the breadth 50, And the height five cubits with hangings of fine twine linen and bases of bronze. All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use and all its pegs and all the pegs of the court shall be of bronze. Flip over a page or two to chapter 30, please. And verses 17 through 21. In the first part of our reading, we read about the bronze altar which is in the courtyard. And we read about the courtyard, now we're reading about another piece of furniture there, the bronze basin. The Lord said to Moses, you shall also make a basin of bronze with its stand of bronze for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and you shall put water in it with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet so that they may not die. And it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations. The grass withers, the flower falls off. This is the word of God. It endures forever. You may be seated. This morning, in our variety of passages today, we're considering what took place just outside of the tabernacle proper in what is called the courtyard. We're considering that under the heading, the sermon heading, as you'll see in your bulletins, Anna, his courts with praise. That's meant to be, and his courts with praise. So that comes from Psalm 100, right? Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. We're talking about the courts today. I think the elders tried deep seek for making the bulletin today, and AI's just not cut out to do what humans are meant to do. So, and his courts with praise. If you're taking notes, that's the name of the sermon. There's no Anna who's being reprimanded to coming to God's courts this morning. We're considering the courtyard of God. This space just outside the tabernacle proper where there's this bronze basin. There's a bronze altar. All inside this large, yeah, courtyard. We don't think about the courtyard too often, I imagine. If we think about old covenant worship in the days of the wilderness wanderings, we think about the tabernacle. We think about what happens inside, like the important part. You know, the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is. That seems to be where all the action takes place. Could anything significant, anything important happen outside of that? Or maybe the courtyard is sort of like Michael Collins. Now, Michael Collins is a name that you shouldn't remember for the sake of this illustration. That's the point. You don't know Michael Collins. Michael Collins was an astronaut and he was on Apollo 11, and he was the gentleman who got stuck in the command module that orbited the moon while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin actually got to walk on the moon. And here he is, and he's close to the action, but he's not actually part of the action. Maybe we think the courtyard's kind of like that. It's close to what's happening and what matters. But could anything significant, anything important actually be taking place in the courtyard? Why the courtyard? That is the first question of three that we're going to ask this morning. As we investigate this text before us, these passages, the first thing we want to know is why the courtyard? That's verses 9 through 19 that we read. Why is there this large outer perimeter around the tabernacle? And I'm going to give you the answer now and then hope to unpack it as we go. Here's my answer for you. The courtyard... is a sign or a symbol to us of how big the heart of God is for His people. The courtyard is a sign of how wide the arms of God are opened to His people. Or we could put it this way. The courtyard is a little picture of the big heart of God for big sinners like you and me. Now, how so? Well the courtyard was designed so that a multitude could gather together for corporate worship. It's about 150 feet by 75 feet, maybe you could think of the size of four tennis courts put together. It's a space large enough for hundreds of worshipers. Dozens of priests ministering and of course the endless stream of animals that are being brought in to be sacrificed and eaten. It is a place we can say that is abuzz with sanctified activity. A constant stream of Israelites entering and exiting as they offer to God the praise that is due His name. And it is important to say that the courtyard was the place that all people could come and to worship God together. At God's house. The tabernacle is called God's house, and they're coming. They're not inside his house at this point, but they are at his house. And they're all welcome there. Later in the... As history moves on, in later development in the Old Covenant... The tabernacle will be replaced with a temple. And more courtyards are added. So some are for Gentiles, some for women, some for men and so on. Others just for priests. But God's law in designing the tabernacle doesn't make any provision... ...and says nothing about keeping these groups separate or distinct. So it's interesting that the courtyard that we've just read about... ...is truly the place for everyone. Everybody is welcome here. As I said, they are not inside God's house, but they are at it. The Holy of Holies is for the high priest only, the holy place for the priest only, but the courtyard was for everyone. It was the place for all people to come together. So one Old Testament scholar, he gets to the heart of this and he says, there's nothing sacred or symbolic about the dimensions of the courtyard other than the fact that its size provided for corporate worship. Signifying that in the old covenant God accepted and delighted in group adoration. He delighted in the group adoration of his people together at a single location. Which is a model of heaven where all the grand historic assembly of the people of God from all places and ages will together praise his magnificent name forever. The courtyard is a sign of heaven, of what we were made for, where we're headed. To worship God. All people, languages, tribes, nations coming together to lift up in one voice, in one song, praise to God. And so, the courtyard is showing us that two things. God loves corporate worship and also that we need corporate worship that we're made for. Consider that the tabernacle... As a whole, it is in a sense returning the people to what Adam had lost in Genesis 3. You remember the story. Adam and Eve, they sin and on account of their sin, what happens? They are exiled from this first worship center. They're exiled out of the garden. They're sent east of Eden. And then what happens next? God makes sure that they can't get back in. And he places a cherubim wielding this fiery sword, this flaming sword as this sign. If you try to get back into God's presence as the sinner that you are, you will die. And this, of course, is the great problem of humanity. That in our sin, we cannot commune with God. But then the tabernacle starts to reverse that. Or at least in some ways, God is creating this place where people can come and get near to Him. Although there's still that reminder that they can't get too close. Think of, if you've got your Bibles open, you can see this even in chapter 26 and verse 31. We're told that there should be a veil placed over the Holy of Holies. And it says that it will be made as a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen. And it shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. There on the veil is an image that would remind them of Eden. The cherubim that said, you can't go this way. There is danger here. You will die. here if you come through this way, and so the Holy of Holies was reminding them of how there was still this barring to God's presence. But then, look at verse 16 of our text in chapter 27, for the gate of the court, so again we're talking about the courtyard, for the gate of the courtyard, There will be a screen, there will be a door, 20 cubits long, and it's gonna be made of the same thing of that door, that veil, it's in the Holy of Holies. Blue and purple and scarlet yarns, fine twine linen, but it's missing one thing. The fiery cherubim are not drawn on this screen. Here you can actually get close to God in the courtyard. Here you can get back to Him. made of the same fabric, the veil to the Holy of Holies, but without that embroidered chair of Him. The courtyard preached this message, that God wants His people to come to Him. And He wants them to come together as one, as a corporate people. Friends, God's glory is too big for just one worshiper. That's why when God says He's going to dwell among us, He doesn't build a prayer closet. He builds a courtyard. He builds this tabernacle, this house with this huge yard for people, plural, people to come to. And we need to remember, especially in an individualistic day and age like our own, that our Christian faith, although it's very personal, it is never meant to be private. It's a public faith. It's a public faith. The primary way, not the only way, but the primary way we come into God's presence is through corporate worship. And the Israelites, they understood this. Although they got a lot of things wrong throughout the history that's recorded for us. For all their foolishness, they did understand that meeting with God was not about meditation and solitude, but it was about thunderous worship in the company of the saints. And so that's why we encounter Over and over again, expressions in the Bible about longing for God's courts. Let me read you a couple of them. Psalm 65, verse 4. Blessed is the one you choose and bring near to dwell in your courts. And we will be satisfied with the goodness of your house and the holiness of your temple. So there's a blessing to be brought in to the court. And when you're in the court, you're satisfied with the goodness of God's house. Psalm 100 verse 4, which we sang, enters gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. Psalm 84 verse 10, for a day in your prayer closet is better than a thousand elsewhere. No, it doesn't say that, does it? A day at church. A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. And so to an ancient Israelite, God's courtyard was the place to be. Friends, do you have that same sense about church? Are you delighted to be here or are you bored out of your mind right now? Do you have your phone out because you want the pastor to think you're looking at your Bible but actually you're checking the news? You're finding what you can grab for lunch later. You're on Amazon shopping. Is this the highlight of your week, or is this something you've got to just kind of push through? Do you see church as the place to be, or is it just something that you need to cram in with all the other activities you have to get done? Is it the most important thing you do every week, or is it an expendable part of your week, in case something more important comes up? What we do on Sundays, where we are on Sundays, who we are with on Sundays, how we feel about church says something profoundly insightful about how we feel of God. Maybe you think you can divide the two. You know, I love God, but I can take or leave church. God doesn't view it that way. The way you show me that you love me, God says, as you come into my courts. The Israelites got that. They understood that that was the place to be. Yes, God, He wants you, friends. Christ died for you, but He didn't die only for you. He didn't die for you alone, and therefore He doesn't want you alone. He doesn't want you by yourself. What brings a smile to God's face is the assembling of His blood-bought children to sing His praise, to offer up prayers, to listen to Him speak. If you're at the conference, I quoted from David Clarkson, public worship is to be preferred over private worship because it is preferred over private worship by the Lord and so it should be by His people. It's not to say private worship isn't beneficial. or that God isn't glorified in it. But it shows us where the priority in our spiritual life must lie. It is not in our quiet times. It's not in our small groups, our life groups, our Bible studies, midweek things. It's not in the closets. It's in the court. And moreover, it's what goes on at church on Sundays that feeds and fuels our private and family devotions throughout the week. Without corporate worship, those will quickly wither up and die. We come to church because we need it. It's where we hear from God, it's where we feast upon Him. It's where our faith is most strengthened. And since it is corporate, this corporate reality that matters, that means that the people here matter. I would challenge you. Once the plane goes by, I will challenge you. Are you really getting the full benefits of public worship, of assembling with the saints, and what that's meant to offer, if you dash out the door the minute the benediction is pronounced. Or if you, I don't care that it's Arizona time, as David likes to tell me, if you saunter in 5, 10, 15 minutes after the call to worship has been declared. You need to get to know your fellow pew dwellers, or chair dwellers, get to know these people. Learn to linger, see them throughout the week. We're a body, we belong together. Without that, if we just kind of swoop in and swoop out, do you know what could be happening is that we're actually sort of using the church to get our private worship fixed. We come because we get a good talk and then we leave. It's sort of like using Pastor Sheck Snyder just to do your personal devotions for you. There's so much more that's happening in corporate worship and the people are part of that. And the more you get to know your fellow members and love them, the more you're going to learn the lesson of the courtyard, which shows us the big heart of God. How big His heart is for sinners. It is so big and His arms are open so wide, friends, that I can tell you today, That He has loved me. This is how big God's heart is. He has loved me, Jonathan Cruz, sinner and wretch that I am. He has loved me with all the love that is in Him. And there's still enough left for the rest of you. That's how big His heart is. That's how much He loves His people. And you don't learn that if you stay at home. But you learn that when you come together and you look around, we're all singing God's praise. These are all blood-bought children of the King. Wow, what a Lord we serve. The courtyard preaches to us this message, that God loves corporate worship, and He has a big heart for big sinners. So that's the answer to our first question, why the courtyard? Now, if you entered the courtyard, you would immediately notice two things. There's a bronze altar, and there's this bronze basin. So, our second question is, why these? Why the altar and why the basin? Why the altar, why the basin? And these confronted the worshiper with a sobering reality that even if there was access to God, it was limited. It was limited. And so while the courtyard symbolizes God's big heart for sinners, the altar and the basin, they symbolize God's big standard of holiness. His high standard of holiness. And so the people could be near God, but they couldn't get as near as they would have liked. Even the material of the basin and the altar proved this. Maybe you heard it over and over and over again as we read, everything's made of bronze. Some silver, everything's bronze, but did you know that inside the holy place, everything's made of gold? There's a lesson, I think, to learn there, friends. The further you get from God, the less glimmer you're going to get in life. The further you get from God, the less glimmer, the less glory you will get in life. And so we have this bronze altar. What's it for? It's for sacrifice. You see in verse 2 of chapter 27 there that there's horns for its corners, overlaid with bronze. These represent, the horns represent the animals that would be sacrificed on them. And it probably also had a practical purpose of being a post that you could tie the animals down to, to be sacrificed. And we're told, and we didn't read this, but in chapter 29, that sacrifices are made constantly. In Leviticus 6.13, fire shall be kept burning on this altar continually, and it shall never go out. Smoke is always rising up from the camp. Why? Because there's always sin rising out of the hearts of the people. You're always needing to make sacrifice for sin. God's wrath and justice have to be continually satisfied. The altar is the first thing they saw once they entered the courtyard. In other words, the first thing they learned about worship is that they're not worthy for it. Because they're sinners. And then there's this wash basin too. Now this wasn't for everyone, this is just for the priests. We read this in chapter 30. It's very serious, they need to wash themselves before they went about their priestly duties or they would die. Twice over, we're told, they would die if they do not do this. So God's pressing home the idea of how dangerous it is for someone or something undefiled or defiled and impure to come into his presence. While the sacrifice might remove the guilt of sin, There's still inner corruption that needs to be dealt with. There's a corollary, isn't there, in our doctrines of justification and sanctification, right? When you're justified by faith, through faith in Jesus Christ, you're justified, that means there's no condemnation for you. Your guilt does not hang over you. And that's true immediately, the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ. And yet, you're still a sinner. And yet God also graciously works to purify us in our lives and we call that sanctification as we become more and more like Jesus Christ. We become more holy, more clean, more pure. And so the need for washing reminded the priests and the people who were watching just how defiled they really were, just how desperately they were in need of cleansing. Now, take together what we've considered already, what the courtyard preaches and what these pieces of furniture are preaching. It might seem like a contradiction, a little confusing. Is God tricking the people? Was He holding out this fake offer that He really wants you to come close, and then He actually rescinds that offer the moment you enter into the courtyard? You know, I made this big courtyard because I love for people to come together and worship you. You get there and it's all about your sin and how you're not worthy to do it. Oh, maybe I'm not supposed to be here. Is this false advertising? We take false advertising very seriously in our country, don't we? I'm from Kalamazoo. It's a real place. It is the home of Pfizer. Talk to me about that later. But back in 2005, Pfizer, our friends in Kalamazoo, got into hot water over this false advertising because they were taken to court and they lost in court because they had stated on one of their mouthwash brands, it was Listerine, which they make, they had put this line, just as good as flossing. And it was, dentists didn't like that, I guess. They took them to court for it, and it was determined that that was a lie. And so they had to spend $2 million to rectify that advertisement, which included deploying 4,000 employees to go around the country with little stickers that they would affix over the bottles of Listerine so people didn't see that line, just as good as flossing. We take false advertising very seriously. Is that what the courtyard is? Is this just one giant billboard that's a lie, this billboard That seems to say, come on in, God wants you. But then as soon as you get there you realize, wait, no he doesn't want me because I'm a sinner. Is it presenting simultaneously these two conflicting ideas. That God wants his people to draw near, but then also he wants them to stay back. Well friends, there is no trickery here, there is no contradiction. Because get this, listen up. God actually wants both of those things. He wants you to draw near and he wants you to stay back. And I hope you see now we begin to know the answer to our final question. Why Jesus? Jesus is able to bring into beautiful harmony what otherwise seems to be a contradiction or a tension that is namely God's big heart for sinners on the one hand but his big demands of holiness on the other. God's love for us is such that He meets both of those demands in the person of Jesus Christ. Both of those things are met in Christ. God says that He so loves the world that He sends His Son. I'm sending my Son to this world that I love so that if you believe in Him, you'll never perish. You see this big heart of God, right? He sends His Son, Jesus, and Jesus comes for the whole world. He's for everybody. Not everyone is saved because not everybody believes, but the offer is for everyone. We can maybe get all kind of tied in knots about how can that be? Jesus seems to come for the world, but it's not really for everyone. Not everyone is saved. Thomas Boston, he was a Puritan in Scotland. He had an interesting way of putting it, him and his pastoral colleagues, because they would not say that Jesus died for everybody. He did not die for everybody. He died for his elect, for his people. But they would say this, Jesus is dead for everybody. He's available for everyone. He's on offer for all. He's there for you. But you need to believe in Him and come to Him, and then you can say, Jesus died for me. Or maybe we could put it this way, even though Jesus didn't die for all to be saved, He died for all to believe. The fact that Jesus died now puts the onus on you. You must believe in Him and believe in this sacrifice. There is an offer for you, and the offer is made today. You can come to Christ. You can come. You can come. You can come to Jesus today. Boys and girls, you can come to Jesus. You can believe in Jesus. He's for everyone. He's for everyone. But some of you might be thinking, let's say I do come. Maybe I accept this great gift. Won't I then be met with barriers to God's presence because of my sin? Is it a genuine offer or will I be kept out in those outer courts while I'd be banished to that brazen, that bronze world and never get to know the gold and glory of God's presence? And the answer is no, no, no, no, no. Because God's offer to the world in Christ isn't only that you can come to Christ, but it's that you can be made right and be made pure and whole in Christ as well. He completely changes you. And we'll see that in Hebrews 10. Let's turn there, here as we conclude. Maybe I lied. I think we're winding down. We'll see where things go. We're at least gonna turn to Hebrews 10 now. Verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near. You can do it. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. How can we enter the holy place? How do we get near to God? Because the blood of Jesus, as we read in Hebrews 9, there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. And in the old covenant, everything was purified with blood. There's blood everywhere. Friends, do you not recognize what an amazing gift the gospel is that you could come to church today and not get bloody? That you can wear your Sunday best and you don't need to go home and dunk it in some Tide stain remover? It's a bloodless thing now that Christ has shed his blood once for all for us. And so he's made us right with God. He's removed our guilt. That's the justification part. But we're told also here that he cleanses us with our hearts sprinkled clean and our bodies washed with pure water. We're told in 1 John 1, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. What the altar and the basin represented, Jesus has fulfilled. That old way is done. And that's why that question from the old gospel hymn is so important. Are you washed in the blood, in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? If you are not, you cannot come near to God. If you are, there is nothing that can keep you away. Amen? So what Christ has done, friends, should make us long for corporate worship in the courts of God, the church, even more than old covenant saints. I read those passages from the Psalms where they long for the courts of God. Shouldn't we long for them even more now that Jesus has made it so painless, so simple for us to come? This is what makes church not boring, but wonderful. This is what makes church beautiful. Friends, this is a beautiful place. Do you think about that? Or do you think, why are we in this warehouse? Why do we have to be under the air traffic path. I don't like the fluorescent lights. I wish we didn't have these concrete floors. What makes church beautiful, friends, is that God is here. And God is here with you because of what Jesus has done. Isaac Watts, my soul, how lovely is the place to which thy God resorts, tis heaven to see his smiling face, even if in his earthly courts. That's what makes church beautiful. We see the smiling face of God because of Jesus Christ. Church is beautiful because it brings heaven down to earth. Really, the better way to put it, as Reverend Busey reminded us yesterday, brings a little bit of earth up to heaven, and we get to be with God. And so, in the new covenant, the courts of God aren't a far-off substitute for the real thing. The courts of God have become the heavenly realms, and that's where we get to go when we worship. The question is simply, do you want it? Do you care? Do you love it? I want to read you from C.S. Lewis' book, Reflections on the Psalms. He gets at it so well. He says, I want to stress what I think we need more of. And that is the joy and delight in God which we find in the Psalms. However loosely or closely they might have been connected with the temple or tabernacle. These poets knew far less reason than we for loving God. Just let that sink in. The psalmist knew far less reason than we for loving God. They did not know that He offered them eternal joy, still less that He would die to win it for them. Yet they express a longing for Him and for His mere presence, which only comes to the best Christians or Christians in their best moments. And so then he gives a long list of verses that speak of loving God's house and the courts. They long to live all their days so they can constantly see the fair beauty of the Lord in the temple, Psalm 27. Or their longing is to go up to Jerusalem and appear before the presence of God in Psalm 42. Or from Jerusalem, they say his presence is like perfect beauty, Psalm 50. Or lacking that encounter, they say their souls are parched like a waterless countryside. Psalm 63. They crave to be satisfied with the pleasures of his house. Psalm 54. Only there can they be at ease like a bird in the nest. Psalm 84. And so if we truly understood the blessings that are offered to us in worship, nothing could keep us from being in God's house on Sunday. On Sunday mornings, on Sunday nights, anytime the doors are open, we're there. Because we get to meet with God. There's nothing better than that. Isn't that amazing? And we're not meeting with God for Him to condemn us, we're meeting for Him to welcome us into His arms. He loves us, and He wants to pour out blessings upon us. We want to spend every moment afforded with us, afforded to us with our Savior, with His people. We want to relish every second where we can experience the big heart of God for big sinners like us. Rejoice that those big demands of holiness have been met in Christ. We want to sit at His feet every chance we're given. Come together with one another and enter His throne room by prayer every time we have the opportunity. 9.15 next Sunday morning. Parents, can I say a word to the parents? I know we're almost done. I promise this time we're almost done, but I want to give a word to the parents. It is this place, this place, the house of God that you would want your children to love. You want to cultivate in their hearts from the very earliest days a desire to be here so that if in God's providence they should grow up and leave even the shelter of your roof and wander for a time, they will be struck with the pangs of homesickness for church because it is here that they will have been taught from the earliest of days that they belong. It's here that they belong. It's this place that God gives His blessings. So friends, no amount of extra sleep, no special outing with friends or family, no excuses we might conjure up would ever be worth missing a single word from the God of grace who wants to give blessings to us, a word that calls us into His presence, a word that cleanses us from our sin, a word that sets us apart from the world and consecrates us, a word that causes us to be able to commune with Him at His table, and a word that will in a moment even commission us to go into the world and to serve Him. When we recognize and believe that this is what Christ has opened up to us, then we will be able to say with meaning, that a day here in this place is better than a thousand spent anywhere else. Amen? Let's pray. Gracious God and our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Your word is truth. We ask that you would sanctify us in the truth, that you would take your scriptural truth and plant it within our hearts and that it would change us and that it would grow up to bear fruit in our lives. And Lord, we pray, especially as we've considered the blessing and the privilege of corporate worship, that you would forgive us for the apathy we have at times, the disinterest we have at times in coming to church. And that instead we would see this is a privilege that we have. and the privilege that we can trace back to the death of our Savior Jesus Christ on the cross. Through His death, the curtain was torn in two, and now we can be near to God. Oh, would we echo those psalmists who long for your courts, and would that be an expression of our thanks for the gospel? So draw us into your house, and build us up in your house, Lord. Help us to love this place more and more. We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ.