Good morning. It's good to see everybody got the memo. Everybody sprang forward. That's a good thing. I was convinced all weekend that we were actually falling back. Surprise! No, it really is good to see all of you here this morning. Me and Steve and John were just talking about how this 945 time of worship is just as important as the 11 o'clock time of worship. We're even toying with the idea of just telling everybody we have one service that starts at 945. Be here. I don't know how on board with that I am. If you look around and you see somebody who's not here, who should be, who would benefit from another hour of teaching, encourage them. We would greatly appreciate that. Anyway, let's go ahead and open with a word of prayer, and then we'll delve right back into our studies of Old Testament history. Let's pray. Father, once again, Lord, we are so grateful for the opportunities to gather here together. We pray, Lord, that as we have done so this morning, we pray that we will have come with hearts of anticipation hearts that are desirous of one thing, and that is to glorify you all the more. We know, Lord, that you are glorified all the more when your people are in your word, when we are intent on not just being hearers of your word, but being doers of your word as well. Father, we ask that you would enable us to do that to a greater degree even this morning through the preaching and teaching of your word. Again, Father, we thank you so much. for allowing us to be here. We ask that our hearts, our minds might be solely devoted to you this day. We pray all these things in Christ's name. Amen. So turn in your Bibles, as I said, to Leviticus chapter 19. Leviticus chapter 19, our study begins this morning at verse 1. Here the Lord moves on from his instructions concerning immoral relations to an admonition against idolatry and a special exhortation initially on the need for us to be holy as he is holy. Read it with me. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy. Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father and you shall keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the Lord your God. Now let's just stop here for a minute because this command, you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy, this is a predominant theme running throughout both the Old and the New Testaments. As early as Exodus chapter 19, you'll recall the Lord saying to the Israelites, you shall be to me a kingdom of priests. and a holy nation. Back in Leviticus 11, verses 44 and 45, the Lord said, I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, thus you shall be holy, for I am holy. As we'll see in the next chapter, chapter 20, in verse 7, the Lord says again, you shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. And again in verse 26, Thus you are to be holy to me for I the Lord am holy and I've set you apart from the peoples to be mine. Deuteronomy 7 verse 6, the people are told you are a holy people to the Lord. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Seven chapters later, in Deuteronomy chapter 14 and verse 2, this exact statement is made to drive home this critically important truth. As for the New Testament, Peter is perhaps the most oft-cited in this regard. In 1 Peter 1, 15, and 16, we read, like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves, Also in all your behavior because it is written you shall be holy for I am holy in the next chapter 1st Peter 2 verse 9 Peter uses what was previously said about the Israelites and applies it to the Gentiles and He says, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, for you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received. Now, before I talk about what that means exactly, let me just rehearse for you what this word holy means. In the New Testament, this is a translation of the Greek word hagios. And to be hagios, to be among the hagiosmoi, the holy ones, simply means that we have been consecrated. We have been set aside from the common lot of humanity by God's grace. He has taken us and he has set us aside as other than. And that's the real impetus behind the word holy. We are different. We're made different because we are new creations in Christ. We're made different because as God's elect ones, we have been set apart to look and act in ways that are distinct from the world around us. I've said before, Christianity is a counter-cultural reality. We're not to go with the stream, we're to go against the flow of the stream. Now we're not to go against the flow of the stream just so that we can be obnoxious to those around us. We're to go against the flow because we are different in Christ. Because whereas we were We had this tendency to go the way of the flow and sin in all the ways that those around us sin. Now that we've been set apart, we've been also enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit to behave in ways that are vastly different from the world around us. This is really what makes pragmatism in the church so dangerous. This idea, and you see it all over the place, this idea that the church needs to become more like the world to win people to Christ. We need to not be so harsh in our stance against the things of the world. We actually need to adopt worldly methods and worldly ways so that we might appeal to those outside the world. Well, you know what the Bible says about the appeal of the gospel. There is no appeal. Now, there is an appeal in the command contained in the gospel, repent and believe. But there's nothing appealing to a lost man about the gospel. How do we know that? Well, the Lord Himself said, I've come to set mother against daughter, father against son. My words will be a stumbling block. Paul said, the natural man does not receive the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned. If man is to receive the good news of the gospel, which is good news of the spiritual transformation that takes place when we are made new creations in Christ, if man is to embrace that, he must be worked on by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. The man now regenerate, able to receive the truth, will receive it, that truth resonates in us, and then we begin to act in ways that are much different from the world around us. We don't act much different from the world around us because we think we're better than those around us. We act that way because we are, in fact, better off. And the spirit working through us and in us to accomplish God's purposes will cause us to be different. than the world in which we live. Now, let's get back to this dual usage here of this command to be holy as God is holy and this people that God says that he has called to be his own possession. In the Old Testament, this is primarily The Jews, this is primarily those descendants of Abraham who just by physical identification with Abraham, they were set apart to be what? To be a picture of God's elective purposes, to be a foreshadowing of how God does in fact intend to save, not just from this group of people, but also from the Gentiles. Peter intentionally blurs the lines. Peter says, look, it's not just you who identify physically with Abraham. This promise is being made to all who are of like precious faith as Abraham, whether Jew or Gentile, Greek, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free man. Now how can we be sure that Peter's referring not exclusively to the Jews, but also to Gentiles as being the wholly set-apart people of God? Well, look over at Romans 9. Romans 9. And put your finger on verse 25. We're going to go there in just a minute. But before we do, let me just say some preliminary things. What Paul says here in Romans 9 is actually based on what the Lord said through the prophet Hosea back in Hosea 2.23. You don't have to turn there. I'll read it for you God speaking through the prophet Hosea said I will sow her for myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her Who had not obtained compassion and I will say to those who were not my people You are my people and they will say you are my God now if you're especially on the ball this morning You might be thinking. Well, wait a minute that prophecy in Hosea is about the restoration of Israel It doesn't really say anything about Gentiles. It's about the restoration of Israel and that's true But let's remember who the Israel of God really is This is where it all comes together The Lord is speaking through Hosea about Israel which Israel those descended from Abraham physically No He's talking about the spiritual seed of Abraham, not the physical seed of Abraham. And again, we can prove this definitively in Scripture. In Colossians 3.11, that's where we learn that God's true Israel consists of the Lord's redeemed across all ages, whether Jew, Gentile, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, because why? Because the only distinction that matters is whether one is in Christ. And in Christ, all are one. All these superficial distinctions, all of these ethnic distinctions, all of these racial distinctions, all of these religious distinctions are removed. They're put out of the way because if you are in Christ, we are all one in Christ. I don't care what your background was before. If you're in Christ, you're in Christ. or not. You might not be in Christ, at which point you are the others. You are the unredeemed, the reprobate, the non-elect as it were. God has only one people, and those people are identified throughout the scriptures as the true Israel. And again, don't Don't take this as me promoting replacement theology. I'm not a proponent of replacement theology. God has not replaced the Jews in his plan of salvation. Here's the beauty of it. He has included them. All of them? John Hagee would say yes, we would say no. Only a remnant. We read about this in Romans 11, when there will be a remnant of those natural branches that were pulled off and set aside in the fullness of the Gentiles. Whenever that happens, God will also pick up a remnant from among those who were previously stripped off and set aside, and he will graft them back in. And then what does Paul say? And at that moment, all Israel will be saved. The dispensationalist wants you to believe that all Israel being saved means every last person who is an Israelite. But that can't be the case. It simply can't be. Why? Well, you're at Romans 9 verse 25. Just read it with me. Paul says, as he says also in Hosea, we just read that. I will call those who are not my people, my people, and her who was not beloved, beloved. And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God. Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved. Not all of them. Paul could have very well said, God's gonna gloriously and graciously save all of them. But he doesn't, does he? It's the remnant that will be saved, for the Lord will execute His word on the earth thoroughly and quickly. And just as Isaiah foretold, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, we would have become like Sodom and would have resembled Gomorrah. What shall we say, then, that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness? Even the righteousness which is by faith, but Israel pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith. What does that mean? They didn't use the faith that they had to pursue it? No, it just means they were devoid of faith. They didn't have God's gift of faith. And so what did they do? but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed. The true Israelite of God consists of a believing remnant from Abraham's physical descendants and believing Gentiles. This is what Paul said to the Galatians. He referenced this group of people as God's Israel. Those who, by God's grace, are regenerated unto newness of life by His Holy Spirit and given the gift of faith, enabling them to believe, are members of God's one people, the true Israel of God. Still not convinced? Just go up a few verses in Romans 9. 6B, Romans 9, 6B. And this should end the discussion, right? What does Paul say? They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. Boom. Mic drop. Don't forget to tip your waiter. I'm out of here. Paul could have just stopped there. They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. And that would have had most of the Jewish people in Paul's day thinking, something is not adding up. We've been told our whole existence that we enjoy the salvific pleasure of God. It's not true. Nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants. Double whammy, right? But through Isaac, your descendants will be named. That is, it's not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. And guess who's among those children of promise? Me and you. Not a Jewish drop of blood in my whole body. But the most important thing, that doesn't even matter, the most important thing is, My Jewish brother and I share the common bond of Christ. That's the important thing. You'll recall that in John chapter eight, the Jews attempted to appeal to their physical ties to Abraham. only to be rebuked by Jesus himself when he said in verse 39, remember what he said there? He said, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. Now what does that mean? You know, they came up to him, we don't need you, Jesus. We're children of Abraham. And Jesus said, look, no, no, no, no. If you were really Abraham's children, what kind of children? If you were of his spiritual seed, you would do the works of Abraham. Does Jesus promote works, salvation here? No. No, all he's saying is if you were really Abraham's children, then you would exhibit the same kind of faith that Abraham was given, and your works would corroborate that claim to having that faith. If you're truly Abraham's children, then you will act in accordance with the faith that God has given you. You'll be constantly demonstrating the reality of your being Abraham's spiritual seed by acting in accordance with the same saving faith that he possessed. Notice what he says. He says, but now you seek to kill me. A man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. Uh-oh. Our father's Abraham. Now look down in verse 44. Jesus says, your father is most definitely not Abraham. Your father is the devil. Well, it doesn't make any sense. I don't know what John Hagee and others do with that verse. Oh no, they're the beloved of God. They're the apple of God's eye. All Jewish people are saved. The Jews don't even need a Messiah because they're automatically God's children by virtue of their association in the flesh with Abraham. It's just not true. He says, you're of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. Again, a clear indication that although they were of Abraham's line, That meant absolutely nothing in terms of their being saved. So why am I going over all of this again this morning? Well, I'm doing so because I think it's important that we understand that when God acknowledges Israel's being holy or set apart as His special people, He's not automatically declaring them to be among the redeemed. The people at this time in Leviticus chapter 19, the recipients of God's words, with regard to their being set aside as holy and distinct. There are no, not necessarily, any salvific connotations there. Now, how do we know that? Well, if you just keep reading, I mean, we've read enough already to prove this, but if you just keep reading, it's clear that the Israelites who are wandering around in the wilderness are anything but redeemed. They've disobeyed at every turn. They've shown no indication that there's actual spiritual life there. Now, some of them, yes. There are some among them who would have shared the like precious faith of Abraham, and their works would corroborate the presence of the Holy Spirit in them. But by and large, this is just not true. So what is God doing? Well, what God's doing here, He's setting apart this people and telling them that you'll be judged by the righteous standard of my own holiness. That's kind of disheartening. What does that mean? Well, it means what James said in James 2.10. If you fail at one point in the law, you've failed at the whole. In other words, God's standard is perfection. When God says, be holy like I'm holy, that should cause a wave of absolute fear and desperation to flow over you. Certainly not us, because we have, we're new creations in Christ. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit to compel us, to convict us, to comfort us, to guide us, to lead us. We are sealed by that Holy Spirit. Our salvation is as secure as it will ever be. And based upon the reality of that indwelling Holy Spirit, when he does direct and guide us and compel us, he compels us to do those things which please God. So, but the Israelites, proved to be devoid of this same spirit, didn't they? At every turn, they're disobeying. At every turn, they're thumbing their nose at God. Whenever they're given the opportunity, as we saw when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, what did they do? They fashioned a golden calf. And they partied like it was 1999. They fashioned this calf and they all danced around it and the word describing that whole activity was they were engaged in an orgy of the flesh. Despicable. How can the spiritual seed of Abraham in whom God's spirit dwells, how can they behave that way? They can't. They can't. God wants them, though, when he declares them or commands them to be holy as he is holy, he wants them to see just how impossible that is in and of themselves, which in turn will cause those of like precious faith as Abraham to look forward to the Redeemer to come. As for those among his redeemed today, again, we simply look back to what they look forward to, the finished work of Christ. by which we have been set apart as God's own people. And here's the thing, the command still applies to us, does it not? It does. We're still commanded to be holy. Why though? Are we commanded to be holy so that God might be impressed with our works and save us, or at least keep us saved? Are we commanded to be holy so that we might earn God's eternal favor? No. Why are we commanded to be holy? We're commanded to be holy because God is holy and God commands it I've told you before notice the places throughout this portion of Leviticus where the Lord reminds them. I am the Lord your God Most of them would have had the tendency to say as Moses repeated these words to them and certainly Aaron as the high priest says who So periodically the Lord says says me because I'm your God. How can we effectively represent a thrice holy God without demonstrating through our actions and attitudes that he has made us new creations in Christ, that we are even now being transformed by the renewing of our minds? Well, the simple answer is we can't. We can't do that without the internal assistance of His Holy Spirit. And here's the thing, if the Holy Spirit genuinely resides in us, and is at work sanctifying us day by day, making us more like Christ, we will be seen by the world around us as those who have been set apart. Especially in this day and age. There should be no question whose you are. in this lost and dying world. There's no excuse for people wondering, is that person a person of faith? There should be so much faith on display in your life that every person you encounter sees it immediately. This kind of gets back to me bringing out my soapbox for just a second. And I know I'm preaching to the choir because you're all here, right? And you're all here on time despite the time change. Put another feather in your cap for that as well. The thing that bothers me about having to say to the people, we have just one service, which we talked about in the office. That might be a way of controlling them physically. That might be a way of motivating them, not through sleight of hand or any trickery, but for me it's just a bridge too far. You know, if I announced that beginning next Lord's Day, our Lord's Day, this is the Lord's day, this is not the Lord's hour. It's not the Lord's few hours. It's the Lord's day. If I were to announce that starting next week, we're gonna start meeting at 5 a.m. every Lord's Day, and we're not gonna stop till 5 p.m., at this point, you're gonna have to ask yourself, what's wrong with me, right? Not me, with you. Because if you thought for a minute, oh no, that would be, that'd be horrific. If your mind went there, you need to reevaluate your love for Him. It was said this morning that one of the reasons, one of the things that motivates us to be here together, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves as is the habit of some, but as the day of the Lord's return draws nearer, we come together more fervently to stir one another up to love and good works. One of the reasons we are here, the primary reason we are here, is not because it even benefits us. The reason we are here is because He's worthy. He's worth our being here. He's worth every second of attention we can give him on any day of the week. And people want to talk about being inconvenienced because they have to be here at 9.45. I show up at work every morning at eight. Does that mean I love my job and my security financially more than I love the Lord himself? That's the only thing it can mean. Oh, pastor, you're just being legalistic. No. No, I'm being worshipalistic. He's either worthy or he's not. And that's the question we need to ask ourselves every time we come into this place. Why am I here? Am I here because I can feel all warm and fuzzy, and probably not under my preaching most of the time, but I mean, am I here because I'm here to be encouraged and to hear more of thus saith the Lord, and it benefits me in a really tangible, personal way, and I get my cup full of Theology and I go out and live the rest of the week until I need a refill on the following Lord's Day Is that why I'm here? No Those are certain benefits that spring from this I hope There are ripple effects. There are myriad blessings that are ours when we gather together as God's people But the chief blessing to our gathering Is not to us It's to him Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is in me. Bless his holy name. I don't need to bless him all day. Well, you don't need to, but you should. Again, it boils down to this. How much is he worth to you? And this is part of being holy because He is holy. You're set apart. You're distinct. I love it when people ask me, so how was church? I was really great. You know, I've been asked by unbelievers, how's your church going? Oh, it's really good. Well, what do y'all do? We spend the whole day worshiping the Lord. The whole day? And we do it with great joy and great gusto and with great intentionality. Oh, you're weird. I know. I'm not weird, I'm holy. I'm set apart. It's what we do. People say, well, not me, not me. Be careful. Be careful. If the Holy Spirit genuinely resides in us, we will have this unquenchable desire to please Him in everything we think, say, and do every second of the day. Well, this is not the end to the commandments here. The first thing that the Lord tells Moses to tell the people, the starting point, if you will, concerns they're having a proper understanding of how they are to treat their parents and what their attitude toward God should be. He says them in verse three, every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father and you shall keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord, your God. Here in the span of a single verse, the Israelites are reminded of the Fourth and Fifth Commandments. They had already received these from the Lord. And at first glance, I thought this pairing seemed a little bit odd, but then it really does make sense. Listen to Leon Hyatt, who wrote this. He said, the first law given in this message contained both a responsibility to people and a responsibility to God. This combination showed that both were important in Israel and that both were to be regulated by the civil authorities. The specific responsibilities mentioned were fearing, that is, revering or respecting parents and keeping Jehovah's Sabbaths. The stability of the nation depended on parental authority and the spirituality of the nation depended on the proper observance of the Sabbaths. Obedience to parents was and is basic to all right actions toward one's fellow man. and observance of times of worship was and is basic to all right actions toward God. The civil authorities were responsible for seeing that both aspects of life were preserved in Israel." So let me just ask you, why were these matters left to the civil authorities to enforce? Well, at this point, again, it's Helpful to remember that many of these formative things going on with Israel at this relatively early stage, these were not meant to be spiritually obeyed. They couldn't have been spiritually obeyed because the vast majority of them were obstinate, stiff-necked, disobedient, and had no interest in really knowing, much less following, this thrice-holy God who had led them out of bondage in Egypt into the wilderness. Most of them were devoid of the Holy Spirit. And again, we see that through their actions. Without the internal guidance, conviction, and compulsion of the Holy Spirit, there's simply no way that the majority of unbelieving Israelites would have had any inclination or desire to conduct themselves in a way that God was requiring them to behave. Now that said, though, God still needed to instruct them. You see, God's working with an unregenerate people largely and he still needs to instruct them for whose benefit? Well, for the benefit of future generations who would come to know God. This has been his standard all along. God needed to instruct them what his standards are. Whether they could obey those standards or not, he's laying down his law. This is how I demand to be worshiped. And you'll either worship me this way or you won't to your great peril. He still needed to instruct them, and certainly us by extension, regarding his righteous expectations and to ensure compliance among the people. The only compliance the people were able to give with regard to these things was really based on the only thing that could guarantee compliance, and at the time, it was the civil authorities. The only mechanism in place would have been those who enforced the law. Once again, I'd point out the contrast between then and now. And this seems to be lost on a lot of people in the world today who want the civil authorities to enforce God's laws. That's not what we need, folks. What we need is the indwelling Holy Spirit to convince and convict God's people that we are to obey the laws of God and of man. This is what we need. We need God's sovereign intervention to ensure that our obedience is genuine and not manufactured. Genuine obedience is not forced obedience. I can force obedience, right? I can say, thus says the Lord, and we can make laws that are based on the law of God, and we should make more of those if we're able. That's a good thing. But the enforcement of those laws will not be possible in the truest sense. I can change one's mind. I can't change their heart. And what is it that needs to change for genuine compliance to result? There has to be a change of the heart. Again, you can change people's minds, but then what do you create in people who are still in the flesh when you impose laws on them that they disagree with vehemently? Laws that contrast wildly with the laws of their own father, the devil. What happens the moment you try to enforce those laws on a people who are reluctant to receive those and to obey those laws? You get nothing but resentment, bitterness, hatred, perhaps even warfare. Folks, we need to pray for revival. We don't need to pray for political upheaval because here's the thing, if God should be pleased to bring genuine revival to this country, this world, guess what'll happen next? Complete and utter political upheaval. Don't put the cart before the horse. Put the cart behind the horse. If you want real lasting change, pray for God through His Holy Spirit to come down, to rain down upon this land and regenerate people to newness of life who will then be inclined to make laws and enforce laws that are in compliance with God's own expectations. It doesn't work the other way around. It just doesn't. And if you're a student of history, you know it doesn't. It's the work of God's spirit on the heart that can guarantee obedience to what God commands. And that should be our yearning. That should be our desire. Anyway, the first commandment given here is for the Israelites to remember to honor their parents. What does that have to do with anything? Well, you'll recall that this commandment is actually the first commandment with a promise. And what was that promise? Honor your mom and dad, and you'll live long. You'll have a long life. What's the flip side of that? Dishonor your mom and dad, and there's no telling what's gonna happen to you. Right? That's how seriously God takes this. God takes the honoring of one's mother and father very seriously. And what is one of the simplest ways to do that? What's the best way to honor your mom and dad? To be obedient to them. And to step in their steps to the extent that you're able. I would dare say that most of our moms and dads, at least in some way, gave us profound life lessons that we can learn from either in terms of doing the things that they did or even just as importantly, not doing the things that they did. Avoiding their mistakes. But nevertheless, we still honor them for the pattern that they set before us. This is another thing that's wrong in many quarters today. There seems to be this idea that the previous generations, we're experiencing generational warfare. I don't know if you've encountered that in your online But if you go out there, you'll see that people are actually pitting one generation. Christians are saying, no, this generation is better than that generation, and this generation is better than that generation. Well, you know what? If you're living right now, you don't know if this generation is better than the one going before. Why? Because as Solomon said, there's nothing new under the sun. People say, yeah, but we struggle. Okay. And people during the Vietnam War era didn't struggle. People in the aftermath of World War II didn't struggle. People in the aftermath of World War I didn't struggle. People who lived during the time of the Great Depression, they didn't struggle. There's nothing new. Every generation will have its own problems, its own struggles. The last thing we need to do is be discounting entire generations before us because they're not as hip, cool, and relevant as we think we are. Learn from them. Talk to them. Love them. Honor them. And what's another way that we can demonstrate that we are set apart? It's not just honoring mom and dad. It's the keeping of the Sabbath days. We've talked about this before. There are many Sabbath days in the Old Testament. The day of coverings, the first and seventh days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Booths, as well as the day following that. These were all declared to be Sabbaths. And this is what Paul talks about in Colossians chapter 2 when he says, let no man be your judge with regard to new moons or Sabbath days. Sabbaths, plural. There were those occasions when people were called to meet together in observance of certain things in God's redemptive plan. Today we're only left with one. And it's the sum and substance of the fourth commandment, which has not been abrogated by the way, it's not been removed. It's just the day has been changed for various reasons, but now we worship together on the Lord's day. And again, it's one of the best ways that we have of showing our desire to be obedient. It's one of the best ways we have of showing that we are different, that we are the hagiasmoi, we are the ones set apart. And we do so every time we gather together, for as long as we gather together. And again, your heart as a believer should yearn for these opportunities, not to satisfy yourself, but these opportunities to show God just how worthy He is. Is He worthy to you this morning? Really, I mean, is He worthy? Have you come in this morning with this kind of chip on your shoulder because, you know, it is an hour earlier, than it should be, right? Oh, it's just so much trouble. Let it never be said of any of the children of God in this place that showing up for worship is a burden. If it is, your priorities are all kinds of messed up. He's either worthy or he's not. And if he's not, You might need to start looking at your own set-apartness, your own claim to salvation, your own desire for His glory to be other than. Well, I had every intention of going through verse four this morning, but we're not going to rush through, so let's just put a bookmark there. We'll pick up there, Lord willing. in our next time together. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.