If you're able, please remain standing and let's turn to God's Word. We'll be looking today together at Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 18 through 29. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 18 through 29 in a sermon entitled, With Thankfulness, With Reverence and Awe. hear God's word to us this very day. And before we read God's word, let's pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit. We thank you, our Lord and our God. We thank you that you are the true God, the trium God. We thank you that we come to you through our risen, ascended in throne King and mediator and savior and bridegroom and friend. And we ask Lord Jesus that you full of the Holy Spirit would pour out your spirit upon us now. Give us ears to hear, hearts to receive, minds to understand. Help your servant to decrease that you may increase that we would behold your beauty and glory and truth and we'd be transformed from one degree of glory to the next. We pray in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. The Word of God. For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking, For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. This phrase, yet once more, indicates a removal of things that are shaken, that is, things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Thus ends the reading of God's word. You may be seated. Beloved, this is a sermon where we want to be reminded as the people of God what is the purpose of worship, what is the privilege of worship, and what is the power of worship. And we want to answer these primary questions that we'll look at with implication and application throughout the sermon. But we want to look primarily at Hebrews 12, verses 18 through 29. And we want to remember what the inspired author is teaching in this inspired sermon, or this word of exhortation, or this letter. He has begun his letter from the very beginning to remind us that the true and living God has spoken in times past to our fathers through the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken fully and finally through a son. And so he goes on to tell us of the superiority of the son in his revealing himself fully and finally. God revealing himself fully and finally in the son. In fact, the son is superior to the angels, though for a season he was made a little lower than the angels, as he assumed our human nature. He is a mediator greater than Moses. He is our greater Yeshua, Joshua, the commander of the Lord who leads us into the final rest. He is the greater priest-king, who is of the order not of Aaron, which was temporary, but of the order of Melchizedek, because he lives by the power of an immortal, eternal life. He is one, this Jesus, who is superior in the covenant that he mediates in bringing in this full and final new covenant for God's people. And he is the one who has shed his precious blood once and for all as a final full and final once and for all sacrifice for sins because He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of God's people once and for all. And He brings us into better worship. The author of the Hebrews desires us to see that the old covenant was good. But we've been brought into what is better with the coming of Jesus Christ. And it's not just the better. It's the better that also coincides with the best. that is already here and that we await the fullness of the best that is yet to come. And so, when the author contrasts the old with the new, he's saying, it was good in the old. It was very good. As Paul says, there was glory in the old covenant, but contrasted with the new, It was good, but we live in a time that is better. And so we've been embraced by God more fully and finally more clearly in Jesus Christ. And we have a better worship in him. And the best is yet to come, but has already dawned in him. The author of the Hebrews wants us to know that every time we gather for public worship, we come into a worship service that's already in progress at a spiritual, heavenly Mount Zion, where there are angels where there is a mediator who is our mediator, the Lord Jesus, where there's blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, where there is God, our judge, who is now our Savior, and where there are the perfected saints of the church that we gather with. May this immediately, from the very beginning, may it capture your imagination by God's grace, to say every time I gather for worship, I'm coming into the worship service in heaven already in progress. My heart is being lifted up to see by faith, to sing with faith, to revel in what God has done fully and finally in Christ for me and what he is continually doing in and through me. And the way the author wants us to see this contrast that is so much better now in our worship is he takes us back to Mount Sinai. And he wants to contrast the good, but at the same time most terrifying, horrific experience of the old covenant saints when they gathered to come near to God. Now don't forget, God had drawn near to them. God had called them to himself graciously through a mediator named Moses. And he was going to teach them how to approach him very specifically through the tabernacle. So this is a gracious and merciful God, but this is also God a consuming fire. And he wants us to go back in our imaginations to Sinai and see a restriction. He wants us to see worship, yes, of God, that God has initiated, that God has welcomed his people, but it's with restriction. It's with terror. It's horrifying that even Moses, the mediator, said, I tremble at the very voice of God. As we see this contrast beginning in verse 18, he says, you new covenant saints, you new covenant church, you've not come to this that may be touched, a blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and tempest, the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be given to them. They could not endure the order that was given, that even if a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. So terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. Sinai, though a good temple, Revelation of God, although good worship, acceptable to God because God initiated it and God was going to show them the way to Himself at that time, it was also a restricted access. It was also a horrifying experience, because why ultimately? Because there was no full and final priest king, according to the order of Melchizedek, who had satisfied God's just judgment for sin and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. There was only pictures, types, shadows, but Christ had yet to come, and Christ had yet to fully and finally live perfectly, righteously on behalf of His people, and then to offer Himself as a full and final sacrifice for sin as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and then the one who would sit down as mediator at God's right hand. So good, but not better, and certainly not best. We, however, contrastly, verse 22, you have come then where? If you haven't come to this horrific restricted access, where have you come? You have come, verse 22, to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God. You've come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels in joyful festal gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Whereas the old covenant access was restricted We come with this better, even best begun worship in Christ as those who are welcomed, who are told to come with confidence. Come all sinners through Jesus Christ, through his mediation. It's a festival of joy. It's a heavenly festival. And Jesus Christ, our Savior, our King, is present in a very special way as prophet, priest, and king. And so, if you will, may this illustration serve for a moment. I remember a friend who was a colonel who was serving at the Pentagon. and he invited me to come and have lunch with him as his pastor. And when I came to where he told me to park, it was restricted parking, I had to tell the person who had invited me. And then I had to come to a door that was not an official door, it was a side door. It was just a few months, a few, maybe a year or so after 9-11. And I was to come to this door and it was guarded by two Marines who looked like they meant business. And I was not to in any way run past freely their restriction, their guard. But then In God's good grace, I heard the door open. And Colonel Casper stepped through, saluted both men, and he walked and said, Pastor Charles, come with me. And I entered freely with welcome because of who I knew. Because more importantly, he knew me. and he was there for me. Old covenant worship was like trying to get into the Pentagon with restricted access. Coming in New Testament worship to Zion is coming with an access because you know the mediator, or more importantly, the mediator knows you. You have the highest clearance possible through his mediation. And so when we come to worship, beloved, Let us be reminded we're coming to this worship service already in progress and we're coming to see and behold the beauty and glory of Jesus and to hear him as he speaks to us present tense. Look at verse 25. Do not refuse him who is speaking. Listen, let's think about this for a moment. What is worship? It's offering to God on His terms in the way that He has taught us through the scriptures. It's offering up to God ourselves in affection and devotion, in thanksgiving. It's saying with sincerity from the heart, you are worthy, worthy, worthy to be praised. Our word worship comes from worth-ship. It's coming together, acknowledging that God is who He says He is, the true, the trium God, our Heavenly Father in Christ. Worship is coming through a mediator. It has in the Old Testament because God chose Moses to be the mediator of the Old Covenant. In order for the people to come to him rightly, Moses was taught how in the Old Covenant era they were to approach him through a priesthood and hear from him through prophets. And so, in the new, we still, we must come to God, the true God, in our worship through a mediator, in the name of the Lord Jesus, through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, in response to thinking about God, and especially as he's revealed himself to us in Christ Jesus as the full and final Savior, the full and final Lamb of God who takes away our sins of the world. We want to know then how should we worship? It's not merely externally. It may not be in magnificent places. It might not have all the outward external beauty as the tabernacle did or as the temple did in the old covenant. But the worship is so much better because we're coming to Christ, the prophet, priest and king who sits on the throne. And so the outward building can be useful, it can be important, but we're not to be distracted in our worship by the building. The building is a means, it's serving a purpose so that we can see and behold the beauty and glory and fullness of God's love for sinners in Christ. And so our worship is to be upward. Buildings are helpful. Buildings are useful. We're thankful for our building. But ultimately, we're coming to God the Father through the mediation of the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit to be captivated by His beauty. To be captured by His love and His truth. By having our minds focused on who He is as the true God and Savior. To have our hearts lifted heavenward so that our affections are with Christ and are set on things above. not on earthly things, so that our wills will be in conformity to His will more and more because we see Him by faith, because we love Him, because we are once again embraced by Him. And we ask ourselves, in order to stir up our knowledge of Him, in order to stir up our affections, our loves, our hearts, in order to move our wills to obedience, how do we do this? The author of the Hebrews teaches us from the very beginning. And he reiterates this throughout the book of Hebrews. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of your faith, especially in worship. And then go out keeping your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. And who is this Jesus? Who is this mediator? We're told he's the one appointed heir of all things in chapter one, verses one through four. He's the one through whom God made the world. He's the radiance of the glory of God. He's the exact imprint of his nature. He's the one who upholds the universe and our lives by the power of his word. He's the one that after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Why did he sit down? It's contrasted and taught to us in Hebrews 10, verses 11 through 14. And it tells us that the old covenant priesthood, while good, was not better and best. Why? Because the old covenant priest would every day, in their service of God, offer sacrifices for sins which would never take away sins. That blood, that precious blood was pointing forward and upward. The only thing that made it precious was that it was pointing forward and upward to Jesus Christ in his final once and for all sacrifice. Contrastly, the author of Hebrews in 10, 11, and 12, and 13 then goes on to say, but Jesus who has offered himself up once and for all a full and final satisfaction for our sins. He who made purification for sins then did what? He sat down. There was no time, there was no place for Old Covenant good priests, according to the order of Aaron, to sit down. Because it was always demanding a sacrifice, another sacrifice, a substitutionary sacrifice, another lamb, another goat. But Jesus, he offered himself fully and finally, and he sat down. And we see this reiterated by the author of Hebrews several times throughout the book of Hebrews. That when you think of Jesus, beloved, think of him as the one who has sat down. Why? Not because he's not focused and attentive to your needs, because we see in Acts 7 when Stephen needed him, he stood at the right hand of God. When his people need him, he stands for them full of the Holy Spirit and truth. But the sitting shows his enthronement, that he's the King of kings and Lord of lords, that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. and that he sat down because there's no other sacrifices, no other blood that is needed. And so what does he wait for? He waits until all of his enemies death, hell, the devil, sickness, pain, suffering, the persecutors and oppressors of God's church. He waits until the time where all of his enemies will be put beneath his feet at his last return, at his return once and for all to reveal himself as the judge of the living and the dead. And so we want to be captured by this picture of Jesus through the Word and throughout Hebrews and especially as we worship to remember we're coming to Mount Zion. Let's look at and highlight a few things in verses 22 to 24 together, beloved. The author, under the inspiration of the Spirit, is very pleased to give us seven often in number. He begins by giving us the seven attributes of the sun in chapter one, then he gives us seven scriptures to support it in chapter one. Here he gives us seven particular things to remind us of our purpose, to remind us of the privilege, and to remind us of the power of worship. The first thing is, he says, where have you come? Not to an external building. We haven't merely come to church. When we gather together in the name of the Lord, responding to the call of the Father through His officers for His people to come and gather, where do we come? We come to Mount Zion, to the City of the Living God. and to the heavenly Jerusalem. This was the city that the saints, the patriarchs, the prophets, all of the saints of the old covenant look forward to. Zion, Jerusalem, the city of David, the Jerusalem where David was enthroned was not the final city. It was like the blood of the Lamb pointing forward and upward. The city was pointing forward and upward to the heavenly city, to the place where one greater than David. David's own blessed son would be enthroned as the priest king. And so he's saying that this heavenly Zion, this Mount Zion, this city of the living God, this heavenly Jerusalem, this is the place we come when we come to worship. This is the place that is yet our destination as well. So with every worship service we get to come in and be refocused, reoriented to our final destination. We come now to Mount Zion and we know that Mount Zion will come down to us. like a bride adorned for her bridegroom at the end of time at the return of Jesus Christ and we the heavenly Zion people will gather with the Lord forever and ever and all of the mediators all of the son of God's enemies shall be made footstool for his feet So we come to Mount Zion. Number two, we come to innumerable angels where there were angels that were revealing God's law to the people in Sinai, this time of restricted access and horror in the old covenant. There are now angels that are gathering with joy. The note that is being struck here is festal gathering. The angels are in festival. They're enjoying the presence of God in Christ. They're worshiping day and night, worthy is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. So we're joining, beloved, at not only our destination in every worship service, we're joining with the angels in our voices, in our choruses, in our singing, in our praising, in our thankfulness. We're joining a party in heaven. But three, we're joining the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. That is, we're joining the church triumphant. The church militant is joining the church triumphant. Those whose names are written in the Lamb's book along with ours. We're coming to this assembly, this called out ones, this church, this ekklesia, as Hebrew would say it, the K-hall of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. We're coming to this with other saints. Our local church is becoming the church universal. Our sometimes scattered church in times of persecution is becoming the church gathered. The church that is visible is joining the church invisible. It's glorious. That's what worship is. We come to God the judge of all. We learn here that God is still the same, as verse 29 says. A God who is consuming fire. A God is one who is not to be approached apart from a mediator. Who's not to be approached on our own terms. Who's the judge who has entrusted that judgment to our Savior, to our mediator, the Lord Jesus. All authority in heaven and earth has been given by the Father to the Son, our mediator who loves us, who gave himself for us. He's no longer a judge for us, though He is the judge. And perhaps what we're to remember here is when we come to worship and we have to sacrifice, not just comfort to worship publicly, but we have to sacrifice even our very lives, which some of them were being called to, because they would be persecuted. They would be numbered with the other people worshiping publicly, the Christ. They were putting their lives at stake, some of them, and sometimes we do, and sometimes our brethren is doing that throughout the world right this very moment. But he's not our judge. He's the judge of our enemies. He's the one who says, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. He's the one that if he doesn't bring salvation and grace, he will bring judgment and make things right. And we can be assured of that, beloved, with every persecution, with every opposition, with every difficulty we face, he is the judge, but not our judge. Because there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And look, the spirits of the righteous made perfect. Beloved, we don't have a back and forth communion with the saints in heaven like some would teach, I think falsely, unbiblically, in a way that speaks past what scripture would say, but we do have communion with perfected saints in Christ. Because we're all united by one spirit to one Christ into one body. And so it's to lift our minds up to heaven to say, Have you lost loved ones? Do you miss your loved ones who were believers in Christ? They're believers in the very presence of Almighty God in communion with Christ, perfected now, awaiting the coming of Jesus to restore them to their bodies and be glorified along with us on that great day, where there'll be no more sickness, no more sin, no more death, no more fury of the devil in hell. Beloved, this is where you meet with those who have died in the Lord. The spirits of the righteous. And to Jesus. It's so sweet, isn't it? Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. Oh, this is the better covenant. This is the better mediator. This is the better Joshua. This is the better priest, because he's the priest-king according to the order of Melchizedek. This is our Jesus, prophet, priest, and king, exalted at God's right hand. He is the one we worship. And to the sprinkled blood. Oh, that precious blood. It's not like the blood of Abel. Because it speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. What does it speak? Abel's blood spoke vengeance, judgment of a righteous Abel. And again, I think that's the emphasis for God the judge here. But that blood that was shed wrongly, that cries out for vengeance, that cries to all humanity, you're guilty. This is the precious blood of the Lamb that cries out for forgiveness, that washes you clean from your sins, that's so powerful in its working power through the Spirit that it cleanses us from sin, that causes God to look upon the Lamb in our place and say, I will cast all of your sins in the deepest parts of the sea. I will trample your iniquities under my feet. As far as the east is from the west, so I've removed your transgressions from you. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is my love and my faithfulness and my steadfastness toward you. I'm the ever-changing God. And I love you and you are forgiven. That's what the blood says. It sprinkles us as it was symbolized in the old. This is the precious blood of God man, the precious blood of the eternal son in union personally and permanently with our humanity that loved us and laid down his life for us once and for all. Let's look at chapter 10 for a moment that again emphasizes this so beautifully in two places. I want to read in chapter 10 verses 11 through 14. First, and every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices. It sounds like a wholly monotonous job because it can never take away sins. Surely they often said, what is this all about? But when Christ had offered for all time a single offering for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being perfected, or he has sanctified, perfected, consecrated for all time those who are being consecrated, being perfected. being sanctified. And then look down at verse 19 and following of chapter 10. Therefore, brethren, brothers and sisters, 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, look at this, verse 22, 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. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Amen? We worship God in Christ now, beloved. And this causes us to ask then the question, how should we be worshiping when we gather corporately, but also when we have individual worship of God? And when we seek to do family worship, how should we be worshiping first? gratitude, with thankfulness. This is an eternal reality that has dawned already now. And so the author says that we are heirs of a kingdom that shall never be shaken. An eternal kingdom of David's greater son that will continue forever and ever and ever and ever, and we are a part of that kingdom. We're to be thankful, we're to be grateful. That's why the author tells us in verse 28, because you are of this kingdom, not because of your merit, not because of your works, not because something good in you, not at all. If God were to meet us in our own works, in our best works, He would meet us as judge and consuming fire. And we'd have no hope. Those who are not in Christ are under the wrath of God, even as we speak. And that's why it's so important to see what God has provided for us in His Son, that He, who didn't spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not freely with us? Graciously He'll give us all things. He'll give us forgiveness. He gives us repentance. He gives us the faith that we need. He gives us a perfect righteousness that He requires. Whatever God requires of you, the sinner, whatever God requires of me, the sinner, He graciously, fully, and finally will grant it to you in Jesus Christ. Do you need repentance today? Ask Him for repentance. Do you need faith today? Ask Him for faith. Do you need a righteousness not your own to clothe you and adorn you, to make you part of a kingdom that can never be shaken? Ask Him for that. Believe and embrace the Lord Jesus, the only mediator between God and man, the only Savior, and the only one who has fully and finally paid for all of our sins and earned a perfect righteousness. We want to be grateful, beloved. But we also want to be reverent and full of awe. And this is how we should come to the end of Hebrews. After we've met God in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, we come saying, thank you, God. We come saying, I respect and honor you, God, as my king, as my father. I don't want to be in your presence in an irreverent way. I'm tired of my irreverence. I'm tired of my foul speech. I'm tired of the things my heart chases after. I want to revere you, to honor you, to give you the praise and worship that's due your name. I want to glorify you. I want to bring great glory to your name. And I want to do it while just being struck by your awe that I am coming into the very presence of Almighty God. who loves me and who has given me a beloved Savior through His Son. That's what we need. And beloved, notice this. One of Israel's great sins was that they were just going through the motions of worship. So many people all over the world today are not thinking that they're coming to Mount Zion. They don't think about it. They don't think about their hearts being heavenward. They're in worship for themselves, and that's the only reward they'll ever get if they don't repent. You see, it's easy for us, young and old, to just go through the motions, tick a box, get through with your devotions, get through with your family worship, get through with your Lord's day keeping, so you can move on to, quote, quote, quote, what you think might be what your heart says might think erroneously and wrongly, that he's better. You see, we realize that what we're being called to is thankfulness, which comes from the heart. It comes from the heart because of the gospel. It's because it's good news. It's grateful. And we can't come with reverence merely outwardly, externally. We can look reverent, I suppose. But that's not what we're being called. It's heart work. It's heart work, and sometimes when you're in the midst of pain, it's hard work. It's heart work that's often hard work, but it's coming to see Christ, to see the face of God in Christ, and to be moved by it, to be captured by it, and to be changed by it so that you will revere Him and be in awe of everything that He's done. Jesus said to us, He said to us to remember that your heart is far from me. You honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me. We must look to this and say, Lord Jesus, help us. Not to be like the Israelites of old. Many of them, it was written for our instruction so we wouldn't fall into the same type of idolatry. It was just going through the motions. It was honoring God. Yes, He is my God. Yes, He is my Savior. Yes, I am here to worship today. It is, I don't know what that sounds like, but I guess it sounds like outward reverence is what that was supposed to be. But it's to remember that all of this is from the heart. thankfulness, reverence, and awe. And so beloved, let us be reminded here what verse 25 tells us, is that the Lord Jesus is still speaking through his word when it's read, through the word when it's preached, especially when it's preached, and we're wanting to be reminded that our worship is to be thankful It's to be reverent. It's to be all in wonder of God. It's also to be hearing so that we can be obedient. When we come into worship, We want to allow these realities of Mount Zion, and the innumerable angels, and the assembly of the firstborn, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood, all to motivate us to thanksgiving, to reverence to all, and to hearing. Because it's not merely externally do we worship, but we worship from the heart. That the spirit cultivates in us, through us, making us worshipers in spirit and truth. But it's also not just merely outwardly, audibly hearing something. Every one of you who's been parents or been a manager has perhaps said, it's going in one ear and out the other. It's because you're hearing audibly, but you're not listening. And the listening is always leading to obedience. And we can't do this without the Lord Jesus by his spirit. And so let me close with three points that I began with very briefly as by way of conclusion. The purpose of worship is to come to the Father through a mediator, in the power of the Spirit, to give Him all the glory, and to give Him all the praise, and to sing, worthy, worthy, worthy are you, O God. And to begin now, in this time of better, what we'll be doing for all eternity, in the best, in glorified bodies. When Christ proclaims, not merely it is finished, but it is done. I'm the Alpha and the Omega and the former things have passed away. The purpose of worship is the glory of God. It's the enjoyment of God. Number two, don't ever forget your privilege. Don't forget the privilege of worship. Purpose of worship, the privilege of worship. Don't forget the privilege of worship, beloved. We're privileged to worship God in spirit and truth through a mediator who is ours, who is our very gift from God Almighty, who has given all judgment into his hands and who has taken all judgment upon himself for us to give salvation and not condemnation, who loves us with an unchangeable, undying love. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so the privilege of worship is that your names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life in Christ. That you're already part of the church triumphant in communion with Jesus by faith in the Spirit. Though you still, we still must run the race with perseverance, keeping our eyes on Jesus. We haven't entered into our rest yet, though we've begun the rest now in Christ. And so we want to remember, don't ever forget your privilege to come in to worship as the people of God through Christ, and privileged to be part of a congregation where this is taken seriously, and privileged to be in a denomination in a church that takes it seriously, to be part of a historical church that God has blessed and preserved for thousands of years. You're privileged. And number three, remember the power of worship. The power of worship. Don't just forget the purpose. Remember the purpose. Remember the privilege and remember the purpose, the power of worship. The power of worship is as we gaze upon Christ, we're being transformed from one degree of glory to the next. We're being changed. As we die to self and offer up ourselves and ask and lift our hearts to heaven to see Christ, as we ascend, if you will, Mount Zion, New Jerusalem, by faith now, with eyes of faith, through the Word, by the Spirit, we are being changed. We're being transformed. And we're being, we leave here by the power of God's grace and spirit, remembering to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. For this world is going to be shaken. Habakkuk told us, we're reminded here, the world's going to be shaken. And by God's grace, the only thing that will remain after that shaking will be those whom God has united to His Son by faith and all creation that's been restored and made new through that beloved Son. And so I want to leave you with this picture. What is this unshakable kingdom? What's an illustration of this? Think of this, especially children, as you may be considering this. Think about taking a marble, one of your favorite marbles, and you go out on a rainy day, and you picked up mud. And you take that mud, and you cake it around the marble as best as you can. Then you place it in the sun for a few days. Let it dry. Let it harden. And then take that dirt clod and shake it! Shake it! Shake it! And what will remain is the marble. When God in Christ shakes everything that can be shaken, the only thing that will remain is Jesus Christ, Savior, Ruler, One who reigns over the new heavens and new earth and all of His people. All the rest who've rejected Him will be shaken, and then they will come under the judgment and eternal wrath of God in hell. So come to the Savior today. It may be your first day of worship. It may be your fifth day of worship. It may be your hundredth day of worship. It may be that you've been worshiping for many, many, many, many years. But don't forget the purpose of worship. It's easy for us to forget. Don't forget the privilege of worship. And don't forget the power of worship as we come to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, the Father desires worshipers to worship him in spirit and truth. Come to him, all you who labor and are heavy laden. Jesus says, I will give you rest. My yoke is easy, my burden is light, and you will find rest for your souls. Why? Because I'm gentle and I'm lowly in heart. This is our king. This is our priest king. This is our prophet. This is our savior. This is our mediator. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, we're so grateful for your love for us in Christ. We're thankful for all that you've done for us in the Lord Jesus. We praise your holy name that we can come to you, a God who was our judge, but who is now our Father. We thank you that we come to you, one who is a consuming fire, and one who has poured out your fiery wrath upon your beloved son in our place. He has shed his blood so that we might not experience the consuming of your fire, but the purification, the sanctification, the consecration of your fire, that we might be holy as you are holy. Help us, we pray, to remember the purpose of worship, the privilege of worship, and ultimately, help us to remember the power of worship. In Jesus' name we pray and all the church responded with a resounding Amen.