The sermon this morning, congregation, is entitled, Sinai and Pentecost. And as you know, this is the day in which we celebrate the outpouring of the Spirit on the church, which happened to occur on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost really is not the best name for it, right? Because Pentecost was an Old Testament feast. I'll explain that shortly here. An Old Testament feast and the outpouring or the baptism of the Spirit that took place just happened to occur on the day of Pentecost. And so really, today is a day that we celebrate the coming of the Spirit of God in a flood upon the church. And his wonderful ministry that he performs in the hearts of his people in bringing them to a place of faith and repentance and to pursue holiness with all their heart and soul. Let's consider that then. Well, the sermon then this morning would like to consider Pentecost and to place it over against what took place at Mount Sinai. That's really the parallel, the compare and the contrast that I want to set before you this morning. Let's try to understand Pentecost in light of what happened at Mount Sinai. And I think you'll see some striking parallels between those two. So striking that I believe that God himself intends for us to understand the one in the light of the other. So that's what we hope to do this morning, to understand Pentecost in the light of Mount Sinai and to learn about Pentecost from the parallels that we can see with Mount Sinai. Hence the title of the sermon, Sinai and Pentecost. Or we could have called it Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. Again, because the pouring out of the Spirit took place in Jerusalem. And again, Zion in the Bible is always a name for Jerusalem. Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. But since it's Pentecost, I kept Sinai and Pentecost. But if you wanna keep the mountain analogy, you could say Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. Well, let's think about the first parallel then that we have between these two, and that is right in the introduction there, the timing of these events, the timing of these holidays, because they fall on the same day. Let's go back to consider first the Feast of Passover. You'll remember that Passover was one of those feasts in the Old Testament calendar, the Old Testament Jewish religious calendar, that took place in the spring. So, roughly around this time of year, although it would have already started. So, you'll remember that on day 10 of the first month, the Israelites had to choose a lamb. They chose a lamb. It had to be without blemish. On day 15, They sacrificed, they butchered that lamb. And then that lamb became the main course of the Passover meal. And you'll remember that at the beginning, some of the blood of that lamb was smeared on the doorposts of their houses so that the avenging angel would pass over, hence the name Passover, would pass over their house and not strike dead the firstborn of that house. But on day 15, they celebrated Passover. Then starting on that day after Passover, say from day 16 until day 21, they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Right, so day 15, Passover, and then for the week after that, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And that was meant to be a feast in which there was some suffering. After all, the bread was unleavened. And yet, of course, in Jewish tradition, it turned out to be a feast of great rejoicing. Because even though the Israelites were suffering, even though they had to flee out of Egypt at top speed, right? God said, you know, they were even to sleep that evening, right? With their clothes on and their staff close by. And they went out of Egypt with all possible haste. And they did not have time to bake the proper bread. And they had to eat unleavened bread. So even though there was a time for Israel, a suffering, right, because they had to leave Egypt in haste, and all they could eat was unleavened bread, in Jewish tradition, this feast became a feast of great celebration, because after all, they were out of Egypt. They were celebrating the exodus out of Egypt. And what happier thing could there be for the Jewish people than that? So day 15 is passed over. Day 16, to the end of that week, was the feast of unleavened bread. Then 50 days after that, right, so 50 days after the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, came the Feast of Weeks, or Passover. I'm sorry, or Pentecost. It's gonna be hard to keep these straight. Day 15 is Passover. 50 days later was the Feast of Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks. Now, the Feast of Pentecost, then, in Israelite religion, was a feast celebrating the harvest. the harvest that God had, the barley harvest would have just ended at that time, and they would be rejoicing in that, and they would be looking forward to the harvest of the rest of their grain, crops. Now what's interesting, and again, if you're a note-taking person, you might just jot these things down, that on the Passover, celebrated the hasty departure from Egypt, and the sparing of their firstborn sons. Hence the blood, which was an atonement for the sins of Israel and resulted in their firstborn sons being spared and they made haste out of Egypt. So the Passover celebrates that. The Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrates the subsequent journey in the wilderness, when they had to pass through the desert on their way to the land of Canaan. That was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But what does Pentecost then celebrate? Well, congregation, if you go and you look at the dates given, it says that four weeks, or 50 days, sorry, 50 days after Israel left Egypt, they came to Mount Sinai. So that when we look at the Feast of Pentecost, in terms of Israel's journey, that would be parallel to Mount Sinai. So the Passover would be leaving Egypt, the Feast of Unleavened Bread would be their journey through the wilderness, and Pentecost, 50 days later, would be their arrival at Mount Sinai. Now, why do I go through all that? It shows you the parallel already, that there is between the Feast of Pentecost and Israelite religion, And all that took place at Mount Sinai. Already we can see, right, that parallel, even in the timing of the events. Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and 50 days later, the Feast of Pentecost. So that's really, again, I think, already indicating to us that God, too, would have us to understand Pentecost in the light of Mount Sinai. Now, let's continue. Let's look at the external display. And children, I believe this is on your notes as well. The differences of what happened, in this case, the similarities of what happened at Mount Sinai and what happened at Mount Zion, or Mount Zion on the day of Pentecost. And the first thing I'll point out is the thunder. The thunder. Now, these things, in terms of Mount Sinai, are given us in Exodus chapter 19. which is the chapter right before Exodus 20 and the giving of the law. But in Exodus 19 and verse 19, they're standing before Mount Sinai and it says, when the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. With thunder. So at Mount Sinai, there was thunder. Now on the day of Pentecost in Mount Zion and Jerusalem, we have the sound of a rushing mighty wind. Again, not thunder, but in both days, we see this strong, audible thing, isn't there? Thunder and a rushing, mighty, the sound of a rushing, mighty wind. Now these signs, congregation, are all signs of the presence of God. That God is coming down, he's making himself known in this place, as he did on Mount Sinai, and as he did in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Now the next one, that I'll point out to you is the lightning and the fire that took place at Mount Sinai. So I back up, I read to you verse 19, but now in Exodus 19, I'll read to you Exodus 19 and verse 18. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked violently. So here is this fire that is coming down upon Mount Sinai and the smoke and all the lightning that took place there on Mount Sinai. And what do we have on the day of Pentecost? On the day of Pentecost, too, fire comes down from heaven. And remember, as that fire came down, it separated and lent and rested. A tongue of fire, it says in the book of Acts, a flame of fire rested on the head of each of the people of God. That fire is a sign of the presence of God. It happened at Mount Sinai, and it happened on Mount Zion on the day of Pentecost. And I'll just point out to your congregation one difference here. We see the similarity, but notice also the difference here, that in Mount Sinai, the fire just came down on the mountain, and Moses had to go up to speak with God. But look what happens on Pentecost. On Pentecost, the fire comes down just as it did on Mount Sinai, but now it separates. And a flame of fire rests on each of the people of God. And that's an important difference already, isn't there, between what took place under the old covenant on Mount Sinai and what God did under the new covenant for all his people. That the Spirit of God came and dwelt in the hearts and the souls of each of his people in a way that was different than what took place at Mount Sinai. Okay, the third one of these external displays, external effects that took place, first at Mount Sinai, rain. Now perhaps you haven't thought about this congregation, but when God came down on Mount Sinai, it was raining, and probably raining furiously, raining with a flood of rain. Now you don't read that specifically in Exodus 19, although you could kind of imply it, right, because it was thundering and lightning, But it is clear in other verses. I'll just read these verses to you in Psalm 68, verses eight and nine. It says, the earthquake, the heavens poured down rain before God, the one of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad. You restored your inheritance as it languished. So clearly the rain associated with Sinai. And then another in Judges 5, it says, So there was a mighty, powerful rain that took place before Mount Sinai and the children of Israel there. Now, what a beautiful picture that is, congregation, of what Peter says happened on the day of Pentecost. Because when Peter stands up to explain to the gathered multitude in Jerusalem what's taking place on the day of Pentecost, what does he say? He says, this is what the prophet Joel spoke about. Because the prophet Joel said that the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all men, women, males, females, young, old. So the rain that took place literally at Mount Sinai was tight, was a picture of the rain of the Spirit that poured down in a flood on the day of Pentecost and baptized the Church of God on that glorious day. So then in the third place, another parallel we see in the external effects, the rain at Mount Sinai and the pouring out of the Spirit as water upon the multitude on the day of Pentecost. My fourth thing that I'll point out. Oh, I already made this point. This was supposed to be my fourth point, but I already said this. That the mass of fire that came down divided itself and settled on each of the people of God on Pentecost. So having said that already then, let's proceed then to the internal effects. We saw what happened externally, the fire, the thunder, the rushing wind, the pouring out of the Spirit upon the people, the mighty rain. But let's look now at the internal effects. The internal effects. Now I put these verses on your outline. so that you can see that in both cases, there was an element of fear. There was an element of fear. In both cases, both at Mount Sinai and on the day of Pentecost, there was this fear. I read to you Hebrews 12, 21, and we read this together already, and so terrible was the sight, again, of what Moses saw at Mount Sinai, that Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. Now, my friends, If Moses was full of fear and trembling, imagine what must have been in the heart of the people at the time. Moses knew God, Moses spoke face to face with God. Moses is the one who had met God at the burning bush and had heard the voice of God. And Moses is full of fear and trembling. Again, you can only imagine that the people must have been struck with awful terror at what was taking place before them on Mount Sinai. Well, we also read of fear on the day of Pentecost, Mount Zion in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. We read that the people cried out when they heard this, when they heard the preaching of Peter, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? Now I think you're already sensing, my friends, that the fear, even though there is a similarity there, there's a huge, vast difference, isn't there, between the fear that took place before Mount Sinai and the fear that took place in Mount Zion on Pentecost Day. Maybe I can capture it best just this way, and that is that the fear that came down upon Israel at Mount Sinai was a fear that drove them away from God. It's the kind of fear, children, that you have when you see a very large threatening dog coming at you, and you want to run as fast as your legs can take you, because you're terrified of this beast, this animal, who's coming after you. You want to flee away. Now the children of Israel didn't flee away from Mount Sinai, but remember they did say, it did say in Hebrews, in Hebrews 12, 21, that they wanted the voice of God to stop speaking to them. Verse 19, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them. Again, you see the kind of fear of Israel at Mount Sinai is such that they want God to stop, to go away. They're terrified. It's a terror that drives them away from God. But the fear at Mount Zion on Pentecost Day was a fear that drew them to the apostles. Again, there was fear in both, but this was a different kind of fear. Children, this is the kind of fear that you have towards your father, right? That when your father is angry with you for having done something wrong, right? That you want to come to him. Yes, there's an element of fear there, right? Because you know you're probably gonna be punished, but still, there's something that draws you to your father, right? That you wanna go to him. Hopefully, that's the case. So, but you see the difference in the fear. And the fear on Mount Zion, on the day of Pentecost, was that the people came to Peter and said, brethren, what shall we do? In other words, what does God expect of us? And you'll remember that Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the forgiveness of sins. So fear, yes, but a very different kind of fear at Mount Sinai and at Mount Zion. And let's look at the results. What were the results? Well, this is a very striking congregation. I'll confess that I did not know this until I wrote this sermon. So I have you to thank for bringing me to this insight. This is a striking thing. That's a number, 3,000. Read with me what happened at Mount Sinai. In Exodus 32, the children of Israel have asked Aaron to make a golden calf. which Aaron foolishly did, and the wrath of God came down upon the nation of Israel. So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about 3,000 men of the people fell that day. God struck down 3,000 people for their wickedness in the sin of the construction of the golden calf. But look what happened on the day of Pentecost. I read in Acts 2 verse 41, so then those who had received his word were baptized, and that day there were added about 3,000 souls. God struck dead 3,000 people at Mount Sinai for their sin, but he saved 3,000 people. What had those 3,000 people done at Pentecost? They had cheered. when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and nailed to a cross. Maybe there were even those amongst them who had said, crucify him, crucify him. Maybe there were those who laughed and mocked at Christ on the cross and said, he saved others, let him save himself. But on the day of Pentecost, friends, God saved such wretched sinners. Israel had built a golden calf, a sin against the second commandment, definitely a sin. But it pales in comparison of what these people had done, agreeing and cheering the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. But at Mount Zion on Pentecost Day, they were saved, and the others were cut down and lost. So the result, 3,000 men. destroyed at Mount Sinai, and 3,000 men saved on Mount Zion. Well, let's come then to the point, some points of application on this. Congregation, in the first one, it's so obvious, right? Which mountain? Which mountain have we come to today? Let me draw your attention to this point, congregation, by leading us off with this question. Why? was Mount Sinai, such a terrifying place. And why is Mount Zion, in one sense, somewhat also terrifying, and yet Mount Zion is a place of grace and forgiveness and joy. What makes the difference between Mount Sinai, right, and as we think about this question this morning, which mountain have we come to? What makes the one so terrifying and the other so comforting? Children, this question's on your notes as well. And the answer to it is very simple because it's just one word, Jesus. There was no Jesus at Mount Sinai. Now, I'm gonna qualify that in a moment. But as Israel misunderstood the law of God, there was no Jesus there. In Hebrews 12, we read, For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched, into a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, if even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. So terrible was the sight that Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. Did you hear Jesus in there? Did you hear of an atoning sacrifice? Did you hear of blood? Did you hear of forgiveness? Nothing, just fear and terror, just a law, the naked letter of the law given to God's people. But now at Mount Zion, what makes the difference? You've come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus. the mediator of a new covenant, and to sprinkle blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. Remember, the blood of Abel called for condemnation, it called for Cain to be punished. But now when we come to Mount Zion on Pentecost Day, as we do this morning, There's blood there. There's the sprinkled blood of Jesus, which calls not for condemnation, like Abel's blood did, but calls for justification. It calls for salvation. It calls for reconciliation between God and us. And that makes all the difference in the world, congregation, between the old covenant, between the law as the Jews misunderstood it, and between Mount Zion, Jerusalem. When we come to Mount Zion, we find the law. The law is certainly there. We study that in the evening service, right? The law is there, but it's all sprinkled over with blood. And that's why me, congregation, as a sinner, find Mount Zion to be such a happy place. Because the sins which call for my condemnation and the sins which called for your condemnation are atoned for there. They're washed and cleansed away. That makes all the difference in the world, congregation. Now I wanna say something about Mount Sinai, though, because I've said several times now the Jews misunderstood Mount Sinai. How, congregation, how did they misunderstand it? Because in one sense, Jesus was there. Jesus was there, they missed him. Tragically, they missed him. Oh, if only they had gone back 50 days. What would they have found? A crucified lamb. Not a crucified lamb, a slaughtered lamb, right? Which was a sign and a picture and a type of a crucified Savior. And the Apostle Paul, he said, Christ is our Passover lamb. You see, if only the Jews had understood the covenant that God made with them properly, in light of that lamb, They would not have made the dreadful mistake that they did because the Jews tried to find justification by the works of the law. They tried to get right with God by obeying every jot and tittle of the commandments they had given them. And they did it apart from Jesus. They did it apart from the sacrificed lamb that they had celebrated 50 days previously. They forgot how God had brought them out of the land of Egypt. It's a tragic congregation, tragic. It's an error that the Jews persist in to this day, which is why we should be on our knees to pray for the Jewish people, that God would bring them to Mount Zion, that he would bring them to the God of Pentecost, that they would come to see that the Spirit of God that David was praying for in Psalm 51 has been poured out upon the church on Pentecost Day and is there for everyone who will repent of his sin. and take refuge in Christ. Oh, what an awful, awful mistake, congregation, to make, to come to the law of God apart from Jesus. Congregation, is there one here this morning? I ask you, congregation, to look in your own heart. Is there one here this morning who thinks to come before the judgment seat of God with the law of God in your hands, with your own obedience to the law of God in your hands? then the judgment seat of God will be a place of unspeakable terror to you. It'll be a place of thunder and lightning and judgment and damnation. But the gospel teaches us this morning, friends, that it need not be that way, because you can just go back with me 50 days to the blood of that lamb, the blood of that lamb that was smeared on the doorpost, Isn't that interesting, congregation? Not interesting, it's heartbreaking that the Jews celebrate the Passover so faithfully, year after year after year, and yet miss its real significance every single time. But it'll be more terrifying for us, congregation, who've heard the preaching of the gospel, to have missed the significance that if you come before the presence of God without that blood in your hands, you'll be lost forever and forever. I hope, congregation, you hear that sharp line of the gospel this morning, that if you come before God on the basis of Mount Sinai, you are lost forever. I wanna move to my second point here, our justification. Really not so different a point than I made already. But I'd like to look with you at Philippians 3. If you would take your Bible and turn to Philippians chapter 3, you could see how Paul glories in this truth. He rejoices in the truth of Pentecost. Notice what he says in Philippians 3. Let's begin at verse four. I'm sorry, let's begin at verse three. For we are the true circumcision. In other words, we are the real Jews. We are the real people of God, who worship in the Spirit of God. You see that already, Paul, he begins, already, who worship in the Spirit of God. In other words, who worship, being filled with the Spirit, and glory in Jesus Christ, in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. Now listen, Paul's going to read all these things that might have given him some credit with God. He says if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. Circumcised the eighth day. And you can just imagine a list here, check. Of the nation of Israel, check. Of the tribe of Benjamin, right? Not one of the 10 tribes in the north, but of one of those tribes in the south. A tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. As to the law of Pharisee, in other words, flawless. I kept the law like a Pharisee did, perfectly. As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. And you kind of have to put quotes around that. Found blameless, Paul found out later. He was far from blameless. But externally, in the eyes of everybody else, he was blameless. But whatever things were gained to me, in other words, all these things, all these credentials that I had, which would recommend me to God, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish. in order that I may gain Christ. My friends, this is what we learn at Pentecost, that the righteousness which we would find at Mount Sinai, the obedience we might render to that law, even if it's blameless in people's eyes, is just so much rubbish. Before the throne, before the all-seeing eye of God, all that Mount Sinai righteousness is just rubbish. Garbage, worthless. It'll take you to hell. But the Mount Zion righteousness, well, let's read about that righteousness. Verse nine, continue with me in verse nine. And may be found in him, and what is true of everyone who is in Christ, and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the law, derived from Mount Sinai, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. In other words, the perfect righteousness of Christ, which God in his grace and mercy takes, lifts it off the Lord Jesus Christ, and he places it on us. Is it our own righteousness? No, it's not our own. It's the spotless, flawless righteousness of Jesus, and it's placed on us. And all this, my friends, we learn in Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost. that the Spirit of God, when He is poured out upon us, He brings us to Jesus, and He brings us there to find a flawless, perfect righteousness, that even when we stand before the throne of God, all seeing eye of God will say, not guilty, justified. And the truth of it is, congregation, that already in this life, those who believe in Christ are declared righteous, are justified in the sight of God. and it's the Spirit of God that brings us to Jesus, to find that perfect righteousness. My third application is dealing with our sanctification. Here I'd like to look at 2 Corinthians chapter three. 2 Corinthians three, and again you'll see how Paul glories in the ministry of the Spirit of God. He never can say enough about it. 2 Corinthians three, I'll begin at verse four. 2 Corinthians three in verse four. and such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. And again, Paul's mind always goes back to this subject. Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, So that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was. Notice that Paul says the law that we receive at Mount Sinai is glorious. It has its glory. He's not saying it's worthless. It has its glory. Verse eight, how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. And he says in verse 10, Again, you can think about the sun and the moon, right? The moon shines glorious in the night sky, but when the sun comes up, right where is the? Where does the moon, right, it just disappears, right, because its glory is so vastly eclipsed by the glory of the sun. So when the new covenant came, when on the day of Pentecost, God poured forth his spirit on his church, it was so glorious that the glory of the old covenant, the glory of what took place on Mount Sinai, faded away. Now, congregation, in the matter of our own sanctification, in the matter of coming to that point where we obey the law of God, How will we obey the law of God? How will we render that obedience to God that he requires from us? Paul has said that the old covenant, the Mount Sinai, is a ministry of death. What was engraved on letters, again, the law engraved on those tablets of stone, it was a ministry of condemnation, he says in verse nine. Well, how do we come then to obey the commandments that God's given us? Well, that's the ministry of the Spirit, in verse six, who made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, right, that's just the commandments, but of the Spirit, the commandments with the Holy Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. In other words, the Holy Spirit circumcises our uncircumcised heart. He baptizes us clean from the filth of sin and gives us a new desire to keep the law of God. There's a very striking verse in that chapter, congregation, in verse 17. 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit. And we know that when you read Lord in Paul's letters, always think Jesus. It's always Jesus. Now the Lord Jesus is the Spirit. And initially when you read that, you might think, well, what? The Lord is the Spirit. Congregation, what Paul is saying there is that where the Spirit is, or where the Lord Jesus Christ is, the Spirit is. Wherever a person comes to Jesus, the Spirit is already there. And then continue the verse, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Liberty, in other words, this liberty of free access to God, not a mountain blazing with fire, with thunder and smoke, and a fence around it that says, if anybody who crosses this fence will instantly be struck dead. No, at Mount Zion, the fence goes away, the thunder and the lightning ceases, and it's just a straight pathway into the presence of Almighty God. We have liberty of access. made so by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God, bringing us to embrace that Lord Jesus in faith. And now we have this liberty of access to God and we can live for him. We have really and truly a Christian liberty, a liberty in the commandments of God to keep them and to rejoice in them. So on Pentecost, we turn from the letter, the mere letter of the law, which we find on Mount Sinai, and return to Mount Zion, where we find the law, but we find the Spirit enabling us, stirring us up, giving us a heart of flesh, and leading us in the law of liberty, God's law. All this congregation on Pentecost. What a glorious and happy day this should be in the life of the church. I pray, congregation, that God would give us to taste and see that he is good as we meditate upon these things today. May the Lord bless us then. Shall we pray? Almighty God, this is really one of the happiest days of the year. We love the day of Christmas, we love Easter, we love Good Friday, and we love Pentecost. They're all chapters in your glorious book of redemption, each giving us another aspect of our salvation in Christ. And so, Blessed Spirit, we earnestly pray that You would be poured out upon us this day, that we would have a fresh sense, a fresh taste of the glory and of the beauty of Jesus Christ, that we would love Him, that we would take from Him, by faith, a perfect righteousness, that we would put on that garment, that clothing, and that we would be covered, all our sin would be covered in Your sight. And Spirit of God, we pray that You would dwell within us so that what is true in what is true externally for us, that we have a perfect righteousness, that that truth would also become truth internally, and that by the power of your spirit, we might not just be declared righteous, but that we might also be made righteous by the power of your ministry within our souls. Bless our congregation, Lord, with these thoughts. And when you return us again this evening, we pray that as we take up the study of your law, we would do it as those Christians who have come to Mount Zion and not as those who have come merely to Mount Sinai. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Passover lamb, we pray, amen. Let's turn now in the Blue Hymnal to number 206, Number 206, we'll sing verses 5, 6, 7, and 8. He waters the hills with rain from the skies. And verse 6, the trees which the Lord has planted are fed, and then the source of it all, verse 7. Thy spirit, O Lord, makes life to abound. The earth is renewed and fruitful the ground. And what follows then in verses 5, 6, 7, and 8 of number 206 in the Blue Hymnal. you You. you you Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever. Amen. Yeah.