The earliest Baptists, this was not as mobile of a society as we are. There would be multiple Baptist churches within several miles in a big city like London, and yet if you moved to a new location within the city because of travel restrictions, you had to walk everywhere pretty much. You would, of course, need to move. to a new church, you'd have to find a new church to be a part of. And in order to facilitate that process, because sometimes you would have left the church never to see them again, as you were leaving, the church that you were leaving would present you with a letter. That letter would be a letter of recommendation, a letter of commendation that you could take with you to a new church and present as evidence that your profession of faith is genuine and that that church ought to accept you when you apply to membership in their church. Does that make sense? It's a really simple idea, really. It's basically like, hey, those people don't know you, but we do. As long as they trust our leadership, we, with the authorization of the church, are going to give you a letter of recommendation. And on the basis of our testimony, this new church will, after they get to know you, allow you to join their church as a member. That's where the practice of letters come from. Essentially, that letter was your ticket to an easier route to being accepted into the midst of this assembly. We can talk about that with Baptist churches. We can talk about that in all kinds of places. Our students are preparing, many of them, thinking about the future. They're pulling together letters of recommendation for things like scholarships or colleges or jobs. I've written a few of those. Maybe you will have as well. They take these letters and they present them as reasons that people ought to accept them. But here's the question I want to ask this morning. As we've been thinking this weekend together about this theme of steadfast, and as we think about what we're being steadfast for, why are we trying to be steadfast? Well, it's because we're trying to get somewhere. We're trying to get to some particular goal. We're in the middle of a journey. And the question that I have is, even if we were to remain steadfast for the duration of our lives, why should God accept us into his glorious heavenly assembly? What can we present as evidence that God ought to receive us as anything other than sinful enemies whom he should destroy? As we come to Hebrews chapter 12, we're going to find a series of answers that help us to wrestle with this reality. What I want to say before we read the text is at the heart of all of this is a comprehensive call to holiness. We as Christians are to live as set apart to God. But what does that actually mean in the practical nitty-gritty of everyday life? We're going to read Hebrews chapter 12 beginning in verse 14. We'll read all the way through the conclusion of the chapter. I will say, I'm tired of being concerned about time. This will either be the shortest sermon I've ever preached here or the longest. I apologize in advance. Hebrews chapter 12 beginning in verse 14. Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. 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. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. 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 us 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 the 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 in awe, for our God is a consuming fire. This is the word of the Lord. We come to this text this morning and we're thinking about how we can remain steadfast again. I've already let you know that the central idea here, I'm convinced, is the necessity of holiness. You will not stand on the day of God's appearing if your life is not characterized by holiness. But if we're not careful, we can slide in one of two directions. We can basically reduce holiness down to really nothing and just say, well, Jesus has got it. It's good. We don't have to do anything. Or on the other end of the spectrum, we can make it all about what we do, and we can miss the significance of what Jesus has done. But the author of Hebrews is really helpful here. He helps us to see a full-oared picture of what it means for us to be prepared to meet the Lord in this glorious assembly of the angels and the saints in heaven. and the heavenly Mount Zion. So I want to point out four things to you in this text that help us to think about what it is that we need to do if we're going to remain steadfast, ultimately, not just to the end, but at the end when we appear before the Lord. Four things I want you to see in this text. Firstly, in order to be holy and in order to remain steadfast until the very end, we need each other. We need each other. Notice what we read beginning in verse 14. These two things are tied together. Strive for peace with everyone. So he begins with this communal statement. There's something about one anotherness here that's really important to what the author of Hebrews is about to say. And then he says, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Again, these things are not separate things to be thought about in separate categories. They are connected. Our commitment to peace with one another, for the author of Hebrews, is part of our concern for holiness as individuals and as a body. We need each other in order to obtain the holiness that God requires of us. And that begins to be unfolded in verse 15. There are three things that the author of Hebrews says we're to see about, we're to watch out for. Notice what he says in verse 15. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. That's the first thing he says there. No one fails to obtain the grace of God. The idea here is that we want to make sure that everyone in the midst of the church of Jesus Christ is really a Christian. That no one here is a pretender. It ought to be uncomfortable to be a hypocrite, to be a pretender in the midst of God's people. Because we love each other so much that we will not let people go through their lives thinking they're committed to Jesus when they're not. We want them to know what it means to know and love Jesus. Listen, I can tell you, our students need you to care that they really do know Jesus. Not because their parents or grandparents are here and they know Jesus, but because you're concerned that they know Jesus for themselves. Don't just assume. because they grew up in church. I mean, I know you know this, that there is a real vital connection to Jesus. They need you to be concerned that that connection is real and lasting. He also mentions that, see to it that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it, many become defiled. There's actually an Old Testament allusion here. It's from Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 18. The idea here is that the people of Israel were warned, hey, watch out for people in your midst who ultimately, though they seem to love Jesus and they had this strong profession for their commitment to following God and keeping his covenant, that they've walked away. And what happens when people begin to walk away is so oftentimes they pull people with them. I trust that some of you are familiar with the conversation around deconstruction. There are a lot of people who were famous for being Christian who have since announced that they don't view themselves as Christians anymore. Has God failed to keep them? No, God has not failed. What they're showing is their commitment was not real in the first place. But what's amazing to me is it's not this quiet thing of, hey, I've decided that I don't want to follow Jesus anymore, I'm stepping away. So many of them seem to have this incredible desire to convince other people, especially people my age and younger, that they ought to join them in their departure from the church. And so the Church of Jesus Christ has an obligation to make sure that that does not happen. We cannot control every person that comes and joins our fellowship. When someone walks away, we ought to plead with them to come back. We ought to grieve over their loss and we ought to do our best to see them return. But we also ought to guard the boundaries and make sure that they can't take anybody else with them. The last thing here is we must make sure that we don't get so caught up in the pleasures of this world that they keep us from enjoying the superior pleasures that come to us through Jesus. The last piece in verse 16, and that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing of his father, Isaac here, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. The idea here is that Esau was supposed to receive the promised blessing that God had given Abraham and Isaac before him. He was the oldest son. Now we know from history that God had already told them that the blessing would ultimately go to Jacob. But it wasn't because Esau wasn't supposed to be blessed technically. It was because of what Esau did here. Esau was so hungry for something to eat that he sold his birthright to his brother. And the Bible also tells us that Esau repeatedly grieved his parents because he married outside of people that would have been committed to essentially the same things that his family was. The idea was that Esau was more concerned with the temporal pleasures that this world could offer him than he was with Jesus. Than he was with the promises of God concerning Jesus. Than he was with receiving all the glorious things that God had set before him. And this is something that we need to take seriously. The world offers us real pleasures. Things that we say, hey, I'd like to have that. And there are many good things that God would allow us to enjoy that the world offers us. There are many bad things the world offers us that we also would be tempted to enjoy, but we need to make sure that we don't get it twisted. There are good things and there are better things. And if the good things replace the better things, then we're only making ourselves miserable. Esau was his own worst enemy. And what happens when we begin to think that this world can offer us something better than what God can, is we become our own worst enemy. There is no greater, higher pleasure than knowing Jesus. Because that pleasure cannot be taken away. When this world fights and the chaos descends upon your life, everything else can be taken, but nothing can take the love of God from those who belong to Jesus. And when God's judgment, as we'll see in just a few moments, descends upon the world, the only thing that's going to remain is the kingdom of Jesus. So we need to make sure that we're not getting so caught up with the things of this world that we think they can offer us something that God can't. We need to be committed to the superior pleasure that comes through Jesus. But here's what we have to understand. This isn't just about Reeves understanding this, for Reeves' sake. This is about you understanding this for Jesus' sake. So that if you see me preferring the pleasures of this world, whether it's the praise of people, it's a temptation that I deal with. Whether it's a temptation to try to deal with the things that I struggle with in terms of just the regular course of my life by overeating. Whether it's a temptation for me to be angry when people don't do things the way that I want. Your responsibility to me is to say, hey, you're preferring something else to Jesus. And I just want to remind you, it's not worth it. Come to Jesus. We have a responsibility to each other. And the author of Hebrews is letting us know that we will not make it to the end if we don't sustain that responsibility. Now, that means two things for us, two things that we need to be really careful about as Christians. Number one. Individual Christian, you must stay engaged in the life of the local church if you're gonna make it to the end. You must stay engaged in the life of this body, or another one if the Lord takes you somewhere else, of like faith and order, if you're going to remain steadfast to the end. Because this is one of the gifts that God has given you for your steadfastness, for your endurance. But that's gonna be hard. Because that means that we can't always put on our best face for each other. We've got to be willing to let people see who we really are, good and bad. And we've got to have the humility to receive their correction and their affection. You know, one of the funny things about Christian, especially Christian men, is we're actually sometimes a little bit better at receiving correction than we are affection. When I was in seminary, I went on a fall retreat with a group of men from our church, and I may have told y'all this story before, but we were all challenged to encourage one another in specific ways, and it was super awkward, but we had to get in groups in pairs, and we had to look each other in the eye, and we had to, as men, say something truly, thoughtfully encouraging to each other. And we had to stand, if we were doing the encouraging like this, and if we were receiving the encouraging, we had to stand like this. And I can tell you it would have been way easier to tell each other how bad we were than it was to tell each other how much we loved each other. But we have to have the humility as Christians to receive both of those things. To receive helpful criticism that's designed to build us up and make us like Jesus, but also to receive encouragement. So you as an individual Christian understand you need this people. The church does not exist to be an event planning organization. or a country club that supplies activities and opportunities for you. It's not a charitable organization through which we crank out things that people need in this world. First and foremost, we are a spiritual community committed to Jesus and to one another. And our desperate desire is to see lost people brought into it. But if we get so caught up with all that stuff that we neglect to care for each other, then we will see people all the time falling off the sides and the fringes of our church because we've missed the point. We desperately need each other and we as a group need to be committed to working with each other, not dashing in and out as soon as we can and saying, I've checked my church box, got here at nine on Sunday for Sunday school, dashed in, got in, went to church at 10, I'm good. We need to be committed to being together continuously and striving as the Lord gives us opportunity to care for one another because that's how we're gonna make it to the day of Christ's appearing. We need each other. Secondly, if we're gonna make it to the end, if we're gonna obtain the holiness without which no one will see the Lord, as the author of Hebrews says, we need the blood of Jesus. Now this is the best news of the whole sermon. Then I normally tell you to save your big point for the end, but this is the best part of the whole thing, so I'm just preparing you now. It's all downhill from here. We need the blood of Jesus. The author of Hebrews seems to kind of switch gears and like he so often does, he takes us back to the Old Testament and he gives us an Old Testament story to serve as an analogy, to serve as a symbol, a representation of a much greater reality. Verse 18, he begins and he goes back to Mount Sinai. Brother Zach took us to this particular text, back when we were going through Leviticus, to show us some important things about worship. But when we go here to verse 18, we come back to Sinai, and we see what the people of Israel experienced as they came out of the Exodus, as they came out of Egypt, as they saw God's power and deliverance, and then as they go to the mountain to receive God's law. Verse 18, we read, 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. They rejected his voice. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. To give you a quick summary of what's being said here. When the people of Israel came close to the presence of God at Mount Sinai, the reality of their own sin made them fearful of getting anywhere close to God's presence. They could not stand to hear God's voice coming from the mountain. They could not stand to see the mountain. They wanted to be pulled away. They wanted Moses to go up for them. Even Moses himself, when he perceived the reality of the people's sin, when they built the golden calf and worshiped it, said, I tremble with fear. Every single one of them was marked by fear as they approached the presence of God. because of the reality of their sin. And so too, we should be terrified at the thought of standing before the Lord in and of ourselves. But notice what the author describes in verse 22. He turns to another mountain, not to Mount Sinai, but to Mount Zion. This is the Old Testament language for where God's dwelling place is. But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels, to myriads, countless angels, in festal gathering, in celebration, in a feast, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to the assembly of the church, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. This picture is not one of fear and trembling. This is a picture of celebration. But if the experience of the Israelites on the day when they received the law of God at Sinai was terrifying, wouldn't we expect it to come to the big show? Wouldn't we expect that to be even scarier? I mean, if we're entering not just this earthly manifestation, representation of God's presence, that in many ways is highly symbolic for something else, as the author of Hebrews shows us, if we're entering the real thing, if we're entering heaven, and we're gonna stand before the God of the universe, and miss all of these angels, and all of these righteous saints, should we not expect that our holiness ought to have to exceed the holiness of whatever the Israelites have obtained? And if it doesn't, and it doesn't, shouldn't we be terrified? What has changed? Notice what the author says. The last one is the most important. And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. When the Israelites drew near the mountain, they didn't come without blood. They had been washed. They had been outwardly sanctified. Whenever they would approach the temple, there was always ritual after ritual involving the sprinkling of them with blood and the sacrifices that were presented on the altars. There was always blood. But the author of Hebrews elsewhere tells us that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away our sin. It can make us outwardly more acceptable to God in the ceremonies and symbols of Israel. But it would never satisfy what God requires of us in terms of holiness if we appear before him on the last day. So what is the difference here? We finally have a better blood. The blood of Jesus is able to do what the blood of bulls and goats never could. Because of the blood that Jesus shed as the perfectly righteous one who lived the life that we could not live. in dying the death that we deserve. Jesus now cleanses us by his blood from our sin. And he makes us acceptable in God's presence. If you appear before the Lord and the Lord says, where is your letter of commendation? Where is your letter of recommendation? If you stand before the Lord and you begin to list out what you've accomplished, guess what? It's not gonna do you much good. Because all of it, even if you're the best person who's ever walked the face of this earth other than Jesus, apart from faith, All of us could never do enough to atone for the reality of our sin. If you come before the Lord with your resume and say, look at all the good stuff I've done. If you come before Him with a bank account and say, look at all the money that I've made. Guess what the Lord is going to say? Depart from me. I never knew you. What is your letter of commendation that will get you to the presence of God and keep you there so that this scene is not a scene of judgment and terror, but of joyful celebration? It is the blood of Jesus. You cannot stand in the presence of God on your own, but because of something entirely outside of you, which gets applied to you, you can stand in the presence of God. And when you stand before him, you say, nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. There is no other argument. There is no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. Thank you, Jesus, for the blood of God. Thank you, Jesus, you have saved my life. All you need is the blood of Christ. It is a sufficient testimony. So if you're here this morning and you're asking yourself, how can I be right with this holy God? How can I obtain the holiness that is necessary for me to stand in his presence and my entry into heaven be a cause for celebration? The answer is Jesus. So if you have not trusted in Jesus today, this is your opportunity. God is speaking through his word. Will you trust him? I can assure you, if you're dragging your feet, there is no other salvation but him. And Christian, consider the importance of the blood of Jesus for you. Knowing that your debt is paid, that your sin has been dealt with, that you are washed and sanctified by the blood of Jesus, that changes everything about the way you live. Even now, you can approach the throne of grace in prayer because of what Jesus has done for you. Notice what the author of Hebrews says. He says, and to the sprinkle blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Remember the story of Cain and Abel? It's really a pretty simple story. Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. They go to present sacrifices. Cain's from the produce that he has produced. Abel from the flocks. God accepts Abel's sacrifice and he rejects Cain. Cain, in his jealousy and rage, goes out into a field and kills his brother. And when God appears to Cain, he tells him that your brother's blood was crying out to me. What was Abel's blood crying out? It was crying for vengeance. It was crying for justice. It was crying for Cain's condemnation. And God gave it. What does Jesus' blood cry out for you? Forgive him, O forgive, they cry. Forgive him, O forgive, they cry, nor let that ransom sinner die. Jesus' blood speaks a word of salvation, where Abel's blood spoke a word of judgment. And if you trust in Jesus' blood, it will plead for you. We need the blood of Jesus. Two more things quickly. Number three, we need the warning of God. After this remarkable statement about the blood of Jesus, the author of Hebrews then gives us a series of exhortations. Verse 25, he says, see that you do not refuse him who is speaking, that you don't reject the word of God. For if they, the Israelites, 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. This is an argument from less to greater. If God judged the Israelites for rejecting his voice, and what God offered them at Sinai was good, but not best, not ultimate, what is God going to do if we reject Jesus? He's going to judge us. And the judgment will be more severe than it would have been if there were no Jesus. Because we've had the opportunity to experience God's grace in Christ. The judgment is coming. Verse 26. 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. The picture here is that God, from the book of Haggai, that God is going to shake the earth and all of its treasures are going to fall out and the nations of the earth are going to be destroyed. This is Haggai 2.6. And all that's good is going to be brought to God and be sanctified for God's use. This is a picture of cosmic, universal judgment that brings to an end the powers of this world and the kingdoms of darkness that are at present reigning here. And this judgment, if we are not in Christ, will take us out too, and everything that we value. Now, this is kind of depressing. A cool thing about Jesus and the author of Hebrews is like, hey, warning. But parents, we know that warning is not an expression of hate for our children, is it? When I warn my children not to do something, I'm not doing that because I'm mean. I'm not doing that because I don't like them. I'm doing that because I love them. When the one-year-old scoots his belly along the ground and grabs the base of a lamp and starts to yank it, we tell him to stop. Not because we hate him, but because we love him. When one of these students, I find out they're doing something they shouldn't be doing, I don't warn them. I don't warn them even if I don't know what they're doing. Because I hate them. And I don't want to ruin their good time, I warn them because I love them. Because I want them to know how serious this stuff is. The same is true with respect to God's voice. God here gives you a warning. If you are not in Christ, if you reject the message that he brings, his judgment is severe. But that is not because God is some tyrant sitting up in heaven waiting to zap you. It is because he loves you. So make sure you don't neglect what God is saying. He is coming to warn us because He loves us. We need this warning. And lastly, we need thankfulness. We need warning, we need thankfulness. You see, the foundation, our students picked up on this, we talked about this this morning, the foundation for so much of the Christian life, as the author's gonna show us, is thankfulness. Verse 27, we read this phrase yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is, things that have been made. in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. The picture here is that one day God is going to shake the heavens and the earth. And everything that God has not purposed to keep is going to fall away and be destroyed. What's going to be left? The kingdom of Christ. And that is good news. Because the kingdom of Christ can never be shaken. And if we want to continue to thrive and to live, not just now, but into eternity, we need to belong to that kingdom. If you are a Christian, you have received that kingdom. There is for you in Christ, never ending, full life and joy forever. And the author of Hebrews in verse 28 says, let us then be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be thankful. What happens when we're thankful for these things? What happens in our lives? Well, that thankfulness produces the thing that we started with. It produces holiness. He says, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship. This is temple service language. Acceptable worship with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire. Sometimes I think we make the mistake of thinking God is different between the Old and New Testaments. The God of the Old Testament is mean and he burns people up when they don't do things right. He's really concerned about everybody doing things the right way. The God in the New Testament, he's had a little bit of a change of heart. He's a little bit easier on us, thanks to Jesus. So, you know, we can rest easy. The author of Hebrews tells you that's not true. God is as much a consuming fire now as he was in the Old Testament. If anything, our experience of the fire of God's wrath is greater. in the New Testament because of Jesus than it was under the old. But here is the wonderful reality. Our coming to God and worshiping him is not just some sense of obligation, some sense of responsibility that we've got to hold up. We come to God knowing the fullness of what God has done for us in Jesus. So that our thankfulness for what God has done produces in us holiness that pleases him. If I were to save one of your lives, if I had the opportunity, I would do it. If I were to save one of your lives, I hope we never get in that situation, by the way. I hope we're all good and I don't have to do any life-saving, but if it happens, we'll do it. If I save one of your lives, I would expect that you would be grateful to me. It might change something about our relationship. It might change something about the way that you live, with respect to me and maybe with respect to everyone. Maybe some of you have been there. Maybe you've had some illness and a series of doctors have saved your life. Maybe it's not sort of physical illness, ailment, sickness. Maybe you found yourself in a position where you were engaged in self-destructive behaviors. And somebody brought Jesus to you. And because you met Jesus, you experienced freedom from sin, And you received by the Spirit the power to overcome the things that you were doing that were destroying you. And so maybe you rejoice in that. Maybe you've overcome those things. Even if you continue to struggle, you rejoice. And someone that God has used has been an instrument of your salvation. And it has changed the way you relate to the person that brought Jesus to you and the way that you relate to the world. Hey, I mean, pretty much like parenting and growing up as a child, like your parents saved your life over and over again. If you're here, I promise your parents have saved your life at some point. It may have been pretty far away from the real threat, but that's what we're basically trying to do. Like, hey, don't die. Let's just keep you safe and help you to meet Jesus. But when you realize how much your parents love you, doesn't that change the way you relate to them? When you see that on display? How could we, having seen the vastness of the love of God, have any other response in thankfulness? And how could that thankfulness not produce in us a changed life that reflects a desire to be the kind of people that God calls us to be? You see, worship is not just about what we're doing in this hour. You know this. As Christians, we present our bodies as living sacrifices. It's a spiritual act of worship because God is worthy of all that we have to offer. So here's the question. We're all gonna meet the Lord. We're all gonna enter into this heavenly assembly and we're gonna stand before his presence. How are you gonna stand on that day when God asks you to give an account for your life? What are you going to say? What can you say? Are you gonna attempt to show God why you're valuable and would be a meaningful contributor to his heavenly enterprise? Because you're talented or you have a lot of experience or education? Are you gonna try to show him all the good deeds that you've done? And then when he shows you your sin, are you gonna say, God, you're right. I have no place here. And you're gonna hear those dreaded words, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. Or when you enter God's heavenly assembly, are those angels and those saints gonna be rejoicing because the one over whom they celebrated when you trusted Christ has finally come home? Are you gonna enter into the presence of God and see him there seated on that heavenly throne and see him not as an enemy to be feared, but as a father to be loved because he gave you everything he had so that you might have everything in him? Are you gonna stand before him and say, I don't have anything, but I have Jesus. And by God's grace, by your grace, you have changed me through him. We're gonna come to a time of response in a few moments. Brother Zach will be here. I would urge you, there's an old language that we use for this, but it's called closing with Christ. Maybe you've come very close. You've come right up to the edge of the mountain. And you see where God is and you see that he's there. And you have never finished by receiving the shed blood of Christ that you need. Understand that if you walk away from this time, you are heaping judgment upon yourself. But if you come to Jesus by his blood, you will be saved. It would be our delight. Students, families, church members, it would be our delight. Visitors, we would be our delight to introduce you to this Jesus savingly. And maybe you're here and you're a Christian and you realize, hey, the gratitude that's supposed to come, it's not here. And I need to change, I need to repent, I need to be restored and refreshed. This is a time when you can ask for prayer. We would love to do that. We'd love to talk with you. All of us are gonna have an opportunity to worship. That's why I like to sing all the verses at the end. We got a lot to be thankful for. So let's sing about it. We're gonna sing there is a fountain. I'm gonna pray, Brother Zach's gonna come stand here. Let's worship the Lord together. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this weekend. We thank you that the blood of Christ speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. That he cleanses us from our sin and gives to us his righteousness. Lord, may we live in gratitude for what he has done, having received his blood, having been cleansed by it, so that we produce lives of reverence and awe as we worship you in everything that we are, with everything that we have. Lord, if there are any here who have not trusted Christ, I pray that today would be the day when they would trust him. And if there are any here who have, who need to repent, I pray that you would draw them into a place of repentance and restoration. Lord, for all of us, I pray that you would renew our desire to do what pleases him. And I ask all these things in Jesus' name.