O God of grace, how often have I grieved Thee How seldom have I sung Thy praise And little do I know how much I need Thee And time again I turn away For how my heart is hard and unbelieving For all I've done and left undone Your love is not reluctant to receive me My soul draws back, my love says come. He will not cast you out. He will not cast you out. Whoever enters in will forever dwell with him, drawn near, feigned, Oh, love still bid you welcome here. Oh, Father, when I sin against my neighbor, I turn away your bearer. ♪ Who died to call us friends when we were strangers ♪ ♪ And says to every sinner, come ♪ ♪ He will not cast you out ♪ ♪ He will not cast you out ♪ ♪ Whoever enters him will forever be free ♪ ♪ Where pain are drawn near ♪ ♪ Oh, love still bids you welcome here ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord of light, you call us out of darkness ♪ ♪ To turn aside from sin and death ♪ As prodigals, we come to you for pardon. Oh, Abba, Father, take us in. He will not cast you out. He will not cast you out, whoever Draw near, faint heart, draw near For love still bids you welcome Good morning. I'd like to invite you to turn with me to Psalm 67. It's a missionary psalm or a messianic missionary psalm, however you may like to say it. And if you haven't done so already, I want to encourage you to do something. Mark threw a couple of words and put a couple of words in its place. In verse 4, in the place of judge put govern, and in the place of the second stanza, or the third stanza, in place of govern put lead or graciously lead. There is great want to do this in other passages like Psalm 97 and 98, it does the exact same thing, translates the same words or, yes, translates the same words as a part of God's government, his gracious government as a result of the new song of the new covenant that we sing. It's a part of God's, the equitable and gracious leadership that God has for his people in the reign of grace, or in the reign, like Susan quoted Psalm 621 earlier, or 521 earlier. Grace reigns through, can you complete that thought? Righteousness. For goodness sake, does grace reign through unrighteousness? Not hardly. Grace certainly can be said to reign over our unrighteousness. It does in God pardoning us of all our sins. God does not reign. God doesn't have an unrighteous reign. He didn't give us His Son to keep up our unrighteousness or to keep up any amount of our rebellion. I don't suppose you regard yourself as rebellious? Just the least bit? Somewhat? A lot? Stubborn? Do you know the worst sounding word for stubbornness? Obduracy. Are you obdurant? Even the sound of the word sounds horrible. It's like so rebellious and set in my ways or inveterate. Do you know what an inveterate sinner is? You're an inveterate sinner. You have no mind or heart to change. An obdurate. Grace makes no difference in your life. You misuse it. You're a rebel. You remain a rebel as a regenerate person. How is that so? I've mentioned this to you before. How is it that judgment can make the nation glad? Do you see how mistranslated that is? It's not judgment that makes a nation glad. It is an equitable justice that the gospel brings in, and the Bible is replete with those kinds of ideas, not the least of which I just told you is in Psalm 97 and 98. The righteousness of God, that infinitely great righteousness that is in God and God himself has and God himself is, is equitable for everyone. It's good for everybody. And I've mentioned this to you before, your righteousness, your human righteousness, as much as righteousness as you can obtain in this life, it still wouldn't be equitable for everybody. You want your children to live by your rules or God's rules? You have to be careful with that kind of thing, you know. As long as you live in my house, you'll live. by the rules of, as long as you're under my roof, you'll live by the rules of my house. You have to be careful with that. We're imposing something finite and fallen upon your children, and you will provoke rebellion in them in doing so, or friendships. any kind of relationship. We just don't have, nor will we ever have, this side of heaven enough righteousness in us to say, you can live by my life as a standard. Go ahead and set store by my life. For goodness sake, please don't. I don't want you setting store by my life. I'm not your standard. As great as my communion with God will ever be, ever possibly be, please, I'm not the rule. I'm not your rule. I'd like to graciously point you to Christ, and we love His rule together. That's what I would like. Live under His rule of righteousness together. That's what I would like. And see, that's what I believe this is teaching here. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. God governs, not judges, not condemns. He governs the world, the people, equitably, righteously. You don't have anything to worry about. Don't trouble your little head. My daddy used to say to my little sister, don't trouble your pretty little head. God's got all this thing. So the first word, please strike through judge and put govern. And the second, govern, put lead. And then go and look it up and verify what I'm telling you to be true, please. I'm not afraid of it. Go, go look it up. Prove it for yourself. I encourage you to do so. And then look and see how many times these same words are translated the way I just told you. Psalm 97, Psalm 98. sing a new song. That's what makes us… it's not just the gospel that makes us glad, it's the consequences of the gospel, you see, the fruits of the gospel. The gospel is good news, but without a changed life, would we really be glad? I wouldn't be, not anymore. I used to think my way was the best way, but I don't think that anymore. I'm happy with God's ways, really happy, not Murray's. Psalm 67, God be merciful to us and bless us. and cause His face to shine upon us. What is that but grace, you see? That your ways may be known on the earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. O, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you shall govern the peoples righteously. and graciously lead nations, the nations on earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Then the earth shall yield her increase. God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. Let's pray. What glorious good news the gospel is, we don't take away anything from it. It's the greatest news we've ever heard in our lives. But what freedom from the bondage that we used to experience, we used to live in. What freedom now from the former bondage that we used to live under. A bondage caused by self-will and rebellion against God. Bondage called by self-righteousness, bondage called by our own moralistic do-goodism. As good as we were, we still weren't fit for life with God. We still weren't fit for communion with one another. We still can't live upon our righteousness and get along with anybody. Oh God, how thankful that you don't impose a standard upon us. You change us. You bring about changes from the inside out. You cause us to love your ways, to love your will, to love infinite goodness and infinite equitable righteousness. Righteousness is good for everybody. No human righteousness fits that description. Help us to see that, Lord. Let us be glad and sing with joy, not simply for the gospel, yes, for the gospel, for it is good news, but also for what the gospel produces in our lives. Also for changes that it makes in us, in our minds, in our hearts, in our wills. We once were horrible rebels and you've changed us into lovers of God, lovers of what is good. We were only out for ourselves once. You've transformed us by the sweet free grace of God in Jesus Christ. And we relish, we savor the grace that we have received freely from God. And we adore our Savior. We adore our King. We once renounced Him as a King. We set ourselves in His place. We hated, we despised the throne of God in our lives. And now, day by day, Week by week, month by month, every passing year, as long as we live upon Christ, as long as we live by faith upon Christ, we grow to love God's kingship over us and His righteous rule in our lives, in our marriages, in our families, in our church, in our friendships. In every part of life, we grow to love God's righteous rule over us. Today, Lord, I pray that we would lay down even more defenses against your righteous rule, against your righteous law. We so easily oppose the law of God and put our own laws in the place of God. We so easily oppose the will of God for our own autonomous self-will, especially in the modern world in which we live, especially. Lord, I pray that today we would love to live under the rule of grace for the righteousness sake, for the sake of the world around us, the unrighteous, the self-righteous, the wicked, the evil, the sinful world around us. If they don't see us loving the rule of God, loving the will of God, how else will they ever come to love the will of God? If we despise Your rule over us and we say like they do, we will not have this God to rule over us. How will we ever be instrumental in grace reigning through righteousness in the world? What is our gospel? What kind of Savior do we have? We have a glorious gospel, we have a great salvation, and we have a supremely glorious Savior who is Christ the Lord, Christ our Lord. We exalt in you today. We adore you. We bow down before you. By grace we bow. And we want to bow even lower by grace. We want to be nothing that Christ would be all. We pray it to be so. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you please stand? From the depths of woe I raise to Thee the voice of lamentation. Lord, turn a gracious ear to me and hear my supplication. If Thou iniquities dost mark, Our secret sins and misdeeds dark, O who shall stand before Thee? Oh, who shall stand before thee? To wash away the crimson stain, Grace, grace alone availeth. Our works, alas, are all in vain, In much the best life faileth. No man can glory in thy sight, All must alike confess thy might, And live alone by mercy. Therefore my trust is in the Lord, and not in mine own merit. On Him my soul shall rest His word, upholds my fainting spirit. His promised mercy is my port, My comfort and my sweet support. I wait for it with patience. I wait for it with patience. you What though I wait the live long night, Until the dawn appeareth, My heart still trusteth in his might, It doubteth not, nor feareth. Do thus, O ye of Israel's seed, Ye of the Spirit born in And wait till God appears And wait till God appears Though great are sins and sore are woes, His grace much more aboundeth. His helping love no limit knows, Our utmost need is sounded. Our shepherd good and true is He Who will at last is Israel free From all their sin and sorrow From all their sin and sorrow You may be seated. I want to just mention to you something. When you're singing songs like this, Psalm 130, it's a part, it's one of the penitential songs. Do you know that by name? Five, six, the list may be bigger than five or six. But at least they comprehend Psalms like 32, 38, 51, 130. And for me, I'll put 63 in there and put at the end. And you chart the course of non-confession. 32, he refuses to confess his sin. He was silent about his sin and his bones wasted away. to 38, a desire for God and restoration. 51, an even greater desire and what he will experience once he, what he will do, he will teach sinners their ways once he experiences forgiveness. Psalm 130 is a turning point, a bigger turning point than Psalm 51, much bigger. Because now he expresses he's no longer standing upon his own goodness. Psalm 130 verse 5. If you should mark iniquities, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you should be feared. So it's easy to stand on our own goodness. He stopped. Do you see? He's now living, he's counting upon the righteousness of Christ. That's where the whole of our communion turns, right there. When we're out of communion with God because of some sin in our life, we'll go through stages, just like the Psalms teach. That's why the Psalms are so wonderful. The personal accounts of the soul and all its ups and downs. all its vicissitudes. So I commend, I commend the thought to you, okay? Learn psalms like these and make use of them. Chart your, chart your own progress through psalms like these. Find yourself, as my body wasting away, like in the heat of summer. Don't feel like all my bones are out of joint. Feel like I got gout. over bit me in the joints. That way I feel. Is it necessary for God to bridle me like a horse or a mule? See, he expresses that in Psalm 32. Help you if you learn, if you learn the psalm, learn psalms well enough to make use of them in daily life like this. When you sing that psalm, am I standing upon Christ and the merits of his righteousness alone? Probably not as much as I think or should. I need help. Me too. Good morning. You will open your Bibles to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 1, read the whole of chapter 1 and then through 2 verse 9. I was talking with Alicia recently about how Hebrews maybe is my favorite. Other than maybe Luke 15, Hebrews is maybe my favorite part of scripture. I love I love Romans and Romans are so helpful, but Hebrews Hebrews gives me a view of Christ that is both infinitely glorious, but then all of his glory is is is stooped down to to rescue me in my need. Makes me both want to weep for my sin, but but love, love bowing down to him. The only real safety that there is is bowed down at Christ. It's wonderful. Hebrews chapter one. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son. Today I have forgotten you. Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the sun, he says, your throne, oh God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment. Like a robe, you will roll them up. Like a garment, they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end. And to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him? You made Him, for a little while, lower than the angels. You have crowned Him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under His feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to Him, He left nothing outside His control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. Let's pray. Most gracious God and King and Father, we come and lay ourselves down at your feet and bow down to you. You alone are the holy and righteous and majestic King, King of heaven and earth. All creation is yours. All things are yours. and that through your beloved Word, through your eternal Son, in Him who Hebrews tells us is the exact imprint of your nature, the exact revelation, the exact and perfect embodiment of who you are and what you are like, infinitely powerful, eternal, uncreated, altogether lovely, infinitely righteous, unsearchably wise, and immeasurably good. And yet such goodness, such wondrous love, such unfathomable depths of outpouring love for the other in you. that this great majestic king made himself known to us by becoming first a part of his own creation, even for a time subjecting himself under the care of his mother that he created himself. And then living under the law of your works and living according to the laws of your created natural world that you have made for us and then living under the burden of the curse for us. And then becoming a curse for us. Tasting death for everyone. The death of not only eternal judgment in our place, but the death of all the wickedness that fills our hearts and fills this world. All of the ignorance and the distance and the alienation from you. Christ felt in his own soul for his bride, for his people, tasted the death and the agony and the angst and the emptiness and the depravity and the dominion that is our sin. He who knew no sin, never had an inkling in his own mind or his heart to do anything except that which eternally pleases you, he tasted and became our sin. became our filthiness, became our blackness, became all of our helplessness and our impotence, became a curse for us so that we would no longer have your face turned away from us. That you would so love us, Father, that you for a time would turn your face away from your own beloved son. Your son, who for eternity received and reflected all of the glory of your goodness. The smile of your transcendent righteousness and love. All of your majestic glory and beauty. Make us all to love bowing down to you this morning. and cause us to see what are the ways, what are the areas of our hearts in our life that we refuse, that we live as if we still have a kingdom to ourselves, an identity to ourselves, a way of thinking or understanding or living to ourselves. But deliver us and rescue us, Lord, from maybe the greatest of our unbelief, the greatest of our deceptions, that to be given over entirely in dependence upon you and submission to you and your kingdom would be anything but the happiest bliss if we would all live upon you and bow down to you together and be given over to win others to be glad to bow down to you. Such is the perfection of your loving reign over your people and over all things. We ask that you would cast upon our souls this morning a sight and a taste and a receiving and a repenting and a bowing down a submission. Of a such a gracious redeemer, not just a sacrifice for our sins, but it's the king who was sacrificed for our sins. is the eternal son of God, the one who's eternally at your right hand, that the majesty on high has so put his son as a curse and as a lamb and as a sacrifice and as a substitute in our place, that he became the scapegoat that for a time was cast out into utter darkness so that we would no longer be, so that we could walk in your marvelous light without condemnation, without fear, without trepidation, without reservation in our souls, because you have reserved nothing in your love for us, but have poured it out endlessly and freely through the work of Christ. Cause us now to look to you through the perfect work and mediation of Christ, so that we are free sinners, though we are great sinners, greater than we could ever know. glad to put our hands over our mouth and lay our wills down at your feet. Show us the goodness of your glory this morning. You are both the just and the one who saves the unjust. And make us be glad in doing so. Give us a new song in our hearts this morning that would love praising you as our gracious and righteous King, as our covenant-keeping God. you make us useful to give your kingdom out through Christ to all the world around us and deliver them deliver them from their hardness of heart deliver them from their reservations and their hatred of you deliver them from their distrust and their self-will help us Have mercy on us and condescend to us anew and give us the King and all of his righteousness. Give us a whole Christ and give us over to your life and your will and your kingdom, your glory. We ask it all in the name of Christ. Amen. Would you please stand? Sovereign grace, source in abounding, ransom souls, the tidings swell. Tis a deep that knows no sounding, who its breath my soul forever dwell. What from Christ that soul can sever, bound by everlasting bands, once in Thus the eternal covenant stands. None shall take thee from the strength of Israel. Heirs of God, join heirs with Jesus. Long airtime, its race begun. To his name, eternal praises, O one, one. On such love my soul still ponder Love so great, so rich, so free say while lost in holy wonder why oh lord such love to me hallelujah grace shall Hallelujah. Grace shall reign. Hallelujah. Grace shall reign. Begone unbelief, my Savior is near, And for my relief will surely appear. By faith let me wrestle with God in the storm, And help me, my Savior, the faith to adore. And help me, my Savior, the faith to adore. Though dark be my way, since He is my guide, His mind to obey and His to provide, Though cisterns be broken and creatures all fail, The Word He hath spoken will surely prevail. The Word He hath spoken will surely prevail. Be gone, unbelief, the Savior is here. Be gone, unbelief, the Savior is here. The Savior is here, though cisterns be broken and creatures all fail, the word He has spoken will surely prevail. The word He has spoken will surely prevail. Why should I complain of want or distress, temptation or pain? He told me, no less, the airs of salvation I know from His Word. For much tribulation must follow their Lord. For much tribulation must follow their Lord. Begone unbelief, the Savior is here. Begone unbelief, the Savior is here. Will cisterns be broken and creatures all fail? The Word He has spoken will surely prevail. The Word He has spoken will surely prevail. Since all that I need will work for my good, the bitter is sweet, the medicine food though painful that present will cease before long and then oh how glorious the conqueror's song and then oh how glorious the conqueror's song Begone, unbelief, the Savior is here! Begone, unbelief, the Savior is here! Begone, unbelief, the Savior is here! Those cisterns be broken, The word He has spoken will surely prevail. The word He has spoken will surely prevail. The grace of God has reached for me And pulled me from the raging sea And I am safe on this solid ground The Lord is my salvation I will not fear when darkness calls. His strength will help me scale these walls. I'll see the dawn of the rising sun. Lord is my salvation. Like the Lord our God Strong to save Faithful in love My debt is paid And the victory won The Lord is my salvation My hope is hidden in the Lord. He flowers each promise of His word. When winter fades, a new spring will come. The Lord is my salvation. In times of waiting, times of need. When I know lost, when I am free. I know His grace will renew these days. Lord is my salvation. Strong to stay faithful in love. My debt is paid and the victory won. The Lord is my salvation. And when I reach my final day. He will not leave me in the grave. But I will rise. He will call me home. The Lord is my salvation. Lord our God Strong to save Faithful in love My debt is paid And the victory won Lord is my salvation Glory be to God Glory be to God the Son Glory be to God the Spirit The Lord is our salvation Our God, strong to save, faithful in love. My debt is paid, and the victory won. The Lord is my salvation. ♪ The Lord is my salvation ♪ May be seated. Anybody need an outline? Could, can you get? Mr. Kenny needs one. Who else needs an outline? Ah. Mr. Kinney has gotten a couple. Anybody else? Well, you have your outline. You've had it since Wednesday. I won't brief the whole thing today. I can't. but you will have enough to understand and apply the last part of verse 3 and verse 4 on your own. I don't even think after I'm done you'll need me to give any thoughts about it. It'll be fairly plain to you, almost self-interpreting if you understand verses 1 through 3. And that's what I'm going to major on, verses 1 through 3, 3a. Let's pray. I'll give an introduction and we'll be off and running in terms of understanding and applying one of the great passages of Hebrews. Let's pray. Lord, we give you thanks for your spirit and his work through your word to show us the glory of Christ. Jesus promised his apostles and all of us when the spirit of truth comes, The Spirit who uses the truth, when the Spirit who is the author of truth, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will take what is mine, what belongs to me, and make it known to you. He will take my glory and He will disclose it. He will show it to you. Something greater than the mere knowledge of factual glory. something higher than, something wider, deeper, broader than the knowledge of the glory of Christ. Rather, the experience of it. We wouldn't know Christ without the Word. We wouldn't know God's Christ without the Word, and for the Word we're thankful of every description that we have of Christ. But we wouldn't have a glorious Christ who holds our breath, who takes our breath away and holds us spellbound by His majesty and His glory, were it not for the Spirit applying the truth of the Word to our soul, to our innermost being, to our heart of hearts. And we pray, Lord, now that You would come and quicken us to life, animate us by the Your Spirit, bring us to life, spiritual life, gospel life. We don't want to be dead while we're yet alive. Oh, what a horror to be dead while we live, not just spiritually dead while we're physically alive, but dead and dull to God while we're born again, while we're spiritually alive. We don't want to be dull and dead in our souls to God while we are spiritually born again and alive and children of God. Oh, captivate us by the wonder and the beauty and the majesty and glory of Christ. Once again, today we pray in Jesus name. Amen. In the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great's conquest of the Western world gave travelers access to the great civilization all over the world, to Egypt, to Persia, to Babylon. Captivated by the marvels of each of these civilizations, explorers began compiling a list that grew into the seven wonders of the world. The list included, and there are various lists, but at least one of them included the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Walls of Babylon, the Temple at Artemis and the Statue of Zeus at Mount Olympus, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Of the seven, only the Pyramid of Giza remains. Around 100 BC, the great Greek poet, Antipater of Sidon, visited all seven wonders and he gave this account, this personal account. I gazed on the walls of impregnable Babylon, along which the chariots raced, and on the Zeus by the banks of Alphaeus. I have seen the hanging gardens and the Colossus of Helios. the great man-made mountains of the lofty pyramids, and the gigantic tomb of Mausolus. But when I saw the sacred house of Artemis that towers to the clouds, the others were placed in the shade, for the sun himself has never looked upon its equal outside of Olympus." The preacher of Hebrews fixes his gaze on Christ to give his own account, his own personal account of the struggling of Christ to these struggling Hebrew Christians in their little house church. He intends for Christ to be the last wonder of their world and ours. The last one of the world to burn away everything that opposes Christ in their hearts and minds and then also in ours. I want to invite you to turn with me now to Hebrews 2, 1 to 3 as we seek to unpack our message, taking heed of the wonder of so great a salvation. And I've changed it a bit since I sent it out on Sunday. The glory of sweet King Jesus, last wonder or lost wonder? Is He the last wonder of the modern world for you, or is this wonder and glory lost on you? It's a great question to ask. when we read passages like Hebrews 1, and the summary that comes for us, the therefore, and everything proceeds after the therefore hinges upon the first 14 verses, and then the summary of what's stated in verse 3 in terms of so great salvation, so great a salvation as I've described to you in Hebrews 1. Is it a last wonder for you? Is it the last wonder of the modern world for you, or is it a lost wonder? I want to read now these verses once again, and this time I'll read in the New King James. Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For the words spoken through angels prove steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received is just recompense, is just reward. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? I want to begin with verses 1 through 3 and the solemn warning against careless hearing. And first, I want us to take up how to pay careful attention to Christ's Word and work. I believe there is certainly a negative stated here, but this implied positive, and that's what I want to look at most, and it's what I want to look at first. And I want to ask you the question, what makes your salvation great? Do you consider it to be a great salvation? If we're to give earnest heed to such a great salvation as Hebrews describes here, so that we never drift away, so that we never turn our backs upon Christ or His people, His covenant people, we must start where the preacher of Hebrews starts. We must start to be apprehended, not just to comprehend, to be stopped dead in our tracks. by the glory and the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. King Jesus as the author and perfecter of our faith is the way he states it later on in Hebrews 12. So I want you to notice first something that must be noticed. It goes unnoticed too much. It goes unnoticed by the modern Reformed church. It's hardly cared for in the least bit, but I hope to help us. by giving due notice to the fact that the grace of salvation is given under the government of God's moral law. And I want you to watch as we unfold law and gospel held together the way the preacher of Hebrews does so inseparably. Watch the sun of righteousness rise upon you now with healing in His wings. Hebrews 1, as we saw last week, verse 8, tells us that the eternal throne of God is a righteous throne, a righteous throne. Verse 8 and 9 say, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, He has anointed you with the oil of gladness above His fellows. that you and I are also anointed. We're here in this passage. We're anointed by the same Spirit with the same oil of gladness, just not immeasurably, the way our elder brother is. We're anointed. And it's part of what it requires of us to take in the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ in this passage. Grace satisfies all the just demands of God's holy law for what purpose? Just to forgive us of all our sins? Oh no. Grace satisfies all God's just demands of His holy law to uphold His honor, to uphold God's reign, God's honorable reign of righteousness. As sinners, we're devoid of God's righteousness. We don't think it, but we're completely devoid of God's righteousness. And yet, we cannot live in communion with God, nor favorably in communion with anybody else without this righteousness. It's not possible. Oh, you can try and do the best you can, but you will fail miserably. without the power of God in salvation giving you over to the righteousness of God, not human righteousness. I know you know we're all given over to plenty of that, and we've seen its failures in our lives, human righteousness. No design of God would ever or could ever dispense with righteousness or excuse us from being righteousness. And grace is taken in the modern Reformed world among the new Reformers, among the new Calvinists to be almost exclusively viewed in terms of the pardon of sin only. The celebration of Jesus, but not bowing down before Jesus or giving Him submission or giving Him obedience to His holy will, to His holy law. That's shunned almost always. No design could ever or would ever dispense with righteousness or excuse us from living righteous lives as believers. Sliding a righteousness of God required by the law places a premium on our rebellion against God. Do you see that? Do you understand it? I'm certain none of us understand it as well as we should, but that's okay if we can at least grasp that God doesn't pardon sinners and just allow us to remain completely rebellious against Him as our King. He doesn't do it. Grace rescues us from that. Yes, grace forgives our guilt. Yes, grace pardons us of all our iniquities. Yes, grace frees us from the condemnation and the judgment of God. But the grace of God delivers us from the bondage of our self-will, the bondage of our autonomy, the bondage, as we preached many months ago, of living as we're the only humans, we're the only person in the entire world being autonomous from God, being autonomous individuals, living primarily for ourselves and using God for our own glory. Do you grasp that sliding the righteousness that required by the law and is upheld by grace places a premium on your rebellion? And do you suppose that's a good thing? As a Christian and members of a Christian church, do you want to be instruments of a righteous world? Do you want to be instruments of bringing in righteousness in the world in which we live? Or do you want to be instruments of unrighteousness or false righteousness or entire wickedness? Do you want to be instruments of wickedness and rebellion against God? Which is it? Compelled by the glory of Jesus Christ, when God gives us His righteousness, when we're so compelled by the glory of King Jesus, we live for His glory and one another's good, one another's advantage. That's what righteousness is in the Bible. Righteousness is living for the good or the advantage of another. Righteousness put on display in the book of Proverbs is primarily living for the advantage of the covenant people of God, primarily living for the advantage of the covenant community, the church, the church of God. Living an unrighteous life, not being compelled by the glory of Christ, but being compelled by the glory of self, what do we do? We live for our own selfish advantage. We live by our own selfish will. And when we read a passage like this that keeps law and gospel together and shows us that the grace of God enables us to love righteousness and hate lawlessness, our own lawlessness. When we see a passage like this hold the two together, we must ask ourselves, do I live for the glory of Christ and the good of others, or do I live for my own selfish glory and my own selfish good? Do I place a premium on grace upholding God's righteousness, or do I place a premium on grace excusing me? excusing my self-will, excusing my rebellion, which one do I place a premium upon? Grace as upholding a righteous way of life or grace excusing me from living a righteous way of life? The evangelical world in which we're all raised is fascinated, fascinated by everything but Christ. fascinated with Daniel 9 and what they believe it means for Christ's return in His future kingdom. But they completely overlook the purpose of the most important truth in the whole of that chapter, in verse 27, the purpose of the atoning work of Christ, to bring in everlasting righteousness. It's not just to forgive unrighteousness. It's not just to declare us righteous. It's to bring in righteousness through us into the world, to build a kingdom of righteousness. Do you see that? Do you overlook it? When you read passages like we read earlier in Psalm 67, do you just say, like many say, let the nations be glad because of the gospel, not because of the effect of the gospel, not because of the consequences of the gospel, not because of the fruits of the gospel, and God reigning over me righteously to give me and you a righteousness by which both of us can live happily. Psalm 67, most of the evangelical world believes it teaches that the gospel is what makes the nations glad, but the passage itself tells us it's God governing over the nations, God governing over His people equitably, righteously that makes everybody glad. No one is happy when some external standard is imposed upon them. I doubt you're very happy when anybody imposes their standard upon you externally. God doesn't do that. He gives grace that changes the heart. He gives grace that changes the mind. He gives grace that changes the will. to make us happy, happy with all of gladness, as he says, happy to be ruled by the will of God, happy to exalt King Jesus in our place when we once were only happy to exalt ourselves. The righteousness of God is good and equitable for all people. And let us use the gospel as the instrument of that, not the end. Oh, I just preached the gospel. But it was meaningless. It didn't bring in righteousness. It made people happy that their sins were completely forgiven. But what about a change of life? It changed their status. But what about an internal change? By grace, God grants His own righteousness to us in the place of fallen, finite human righteousness, human righteousness, an inferior righteousness, an infinitely inferior righteousness to the righteousness of God, and no one can live by it. Can you or I or anybody else in this room live upon another person's human righteousness? It can't be done. You can't make anybody happy. You'll make everybody miserable imposing your righteousness upon another person. But the grace of God frees us to love infinite righteousness, the righteousness of God, and despise all inferior righteousness. Even our own, do you see it? Even our own. So our preacher friend tells us in Hebrews 1a that the throne upon which Christ is seated is a righteous throne, establishing Christ's love of righteousness in us as part of the anointing of the Spirit to make our salvation great. Do you see it? Righteousness we come to love by God's grace as God's righteousness, and we come to despise or hate our own unrighteousness, our own human righteousness, our own fallen finite righteousness, which we clothe ourselves like fig leaves, just like Adam and Eve. So we must learn from the preacher of Hebrews and from Paul in Philippians 39 to reject our own righteousness, our own fallen finite righteousness for the infinite righteousness of God through faith. Do you reject your self-righteousness? Have you learned to do so and be glad that God put Christ's righteousness in its place? Do you still contend for and live upon your own fallen finite goodness, your own fallen finite righteousness? Or do you now contend for the supremacy of Christ and the glory of such a great salvation that now you have God's righteousness, infinite righteousness, incomprehensible righteousness by which to live, all because of grace? All because of grace. And how that heightens the grace of God, doesn't it? Nothing else could do it. Nothing else could cause me to conform to the ways of God. Nothing else could help me to get along with my neighbor. I love myself so much. I was bound so much by my own self-will. I tried at human religion, but to be honest, it failed. But this salvation is not human. The law is not human that the grace of God upholds. The grace is not human that God gives to uphold His righteousness. There's nothing human here about it. And we must learn from Hebrews and from Paul to love the righteousness of God and reject our own. Do you love God's righteousness? Something now perhaps you understand a little better. It's infinite. It's eternal. It's everlasting. It's God's, I tell you. It's not man's. It's God's. Do you reject your own self-righteousness for God's righteousness, or have you lost the wonder of the last and only truly righteous King of all the earth? Are you compelled by His wonder, constrained inwardly, controlled you might say, or have But Jim Palmer helps us, as well as anyone I've ever read, grasp giving up self-righteousness for the righteousness of God. He says, the righteousness we obtain in salvation is not mere human righteousness rising to the level of mere human obligation. See, there you go, a standard. I can meet that standard. I can do that. I can do that without grace." And that's the way most people live, without grace, because they can keep their own human standards. Palmer says, the righteousness we obtain in salvation is not mere human righteousness rising to the measure of human obligation. It's a righteousness furnished by God Himself which rises to the level of His own majesty and glory. Just take your breath away. The righteousness that God has given you, Christ, rise to the level of the majesty and glory of God. It's righteousness, Palmer says, that rises to the measure of His own infinite perfections and that rises to the full display of His own justice and His own holiness and His own goodness and His own truth. How awful then for us to remain blind and insensible to the grandeur of such a glorious display of God's righteousness in the salvation of Jesus Christ. Even though we may not understand all that we should about salvation, Palmer says, the grandeur of God's design in the gospel to uphold His own justice should be enough to sweep away all our distrust in God. Is that what the glory of Jesus' person and work does for you? It sweeps away all your distrust. is that even now, sweeping away all of your distrust, the grandeur of God's design to uphold His own righteous rule, to uphold His own righteous, infinitely perfect standard. He did it. He did it Himself. We could never do it. Israel couldn't do it. No other person could do it save Jesus Christ alone. He did it. He did it perfectly so that He puts on display infinite glory and majesty of the righteousness of God's law by grace, by grace the two go together. They are inseparable. They can't be separated without damage to both. God proposes to save us as guilty sinners by granting us. His own august righteousness is higher than the sun. It's august. It's brighter than the sun. It's bigger than the sun. The Son of Righteousness rising upon you just now with healing in His wings. Could you give this son to another for healing also? Unless this Son of Righteousness, S-U-N Malachi 4.2 says, not S-O-N, is there as a symbol. May the Son of Righteousness rise upon you with healing in His wings. Unless the Son of Righteousness rises upon us in all His glory to heal us, we can never be instruments of anybody else's healing. We'd be more instrumental in their brokenness, more instrumental in producing greater condemnation and misery unless the Son of Righteousness rises upon us. as the Son of Righteousness risen upon you in all His august righteousness. A more glorious foundation could not be laid to build a church which loves God's righteousness from the first of our conversion, from the first day of our salvation. That's what's promised here, you see. Do you see it? That's what's a part of our salvation, right from the get-go, right from the beginning, right from the very start of being born again, to love righteousness and hate our own lawlessness, our own human righteousness. So Palmer says, nothing reveals the inveteracy The inveteracy of our rebellious self-will more than losing the wonder of so great a salvation. Inveteracy is being so calloused in our minds, so hard-hearted in our wills and our souls that we never once allow God to change our minds or to change our hearts. Inveterate. Are you so inveterate? I'm not going to change. I'm not going to look upon Jesus as the Son of Righteousness because He rises upon anybody with healing in His wings, let alone me." That's inveterate, you see. I don't believe He can heal anybody, let alone me. That's inveterate. Inveterate, you see. Have you lost the wonder? Have you lost the wonder? Are you so calloused that the splendor of being clothed in everlasting righteousness no longer fascinates you, no longer holds your mind spellbound, no longer causes the highest degree of wonder in your soul, the highest affections in your own heart every day? The last wonder of the world is that the glory of God in His gracious salvation does not burn out all the opposition in our own self-centered hearts. The last glory of the world. The last wonder of the world burns in this preacher's heart. It burns in the preacher's heart who he quotes from, from Psalm 45. In chapter 1, the psalmist's heart overflows with the greatest theme in the world, the glory and majesty of King Jesus. That's the greatest theme of the world. That's the thing in his heart. The word literally, the word for overflow is literally boiling up and bubbling over. It's burned out all the opposition. It's burned out his own sovereign autonomy. It's burned out his self-will. It's burned out his love for himself. It's burned out his self-righteousness. Here it is, King Jesus, and here's what? Here's the glory of King Jesus, and here's the one whom the preacher of Hebrews quotes. To what? To rescue a people who are dull-hearted. to rescue people who have grown spiritually dull. Some of them have already turned their backs upon Christ and turned their backs upon the church because something else is greater in its glory than Jesus. It's a shame fire that burns in Paul's heart when he says in Romans 5.21 that grace reigns through righteousness for life with God. Does grace reign for righteousness through righteousness? for life for you, life with God, life with your Christian members of your church, life with your spouse, life with your children. Does grace reign through unrighteousness? Oh my goodness! Listen, it can't be said, can it? Does grace reign through unrighteousness? No, no, no. Grace reigns over unrighteousness. But grace never reigns through unrighteousness. Grace never reigns through our belittling of the righteousness of God. How many modern people mock any law for the law as illegal? Do you? Here's God's everlasting righteousness put on display in His law and upheld by grace. There it is. Here it is in this passage. It's held together. It's kept together. It's indecipherable. There's a union, a necessary union to make the glories of God's righteous kingdom known and loved. and lived in freely and fully. Here it is. Here it is. Does grace reign through righteousness in your life? Oh, believer, we need to recover the wonder, don't we? We need not to lose the wonder of grace reigning through righteousness any day of our lives. We need to recover the lost wonder. Recover the wonder of Christ. Recover the wonder of the glory and the supremacy of King Jesus. Recover. Recover the wonder of your own salvation. What is it? What is it to be saved? What is salvation? What is your salvation like? What is your Savior like? Does He command supremacy in your life? to bow down before Him. You're happy with the oil of gladness to bow down before this righteous King. I want you to reign over every area of my life. No, I'm going to keep back a few areas for myself that are untouchable. I'll compensate by being better in the other areas than I am in this area, but you're not going to touch this area, this mind. You can't have it. Is that the way you live? How unrighteous, how lawless is still the living. How much you rebel against God's supremacy over you and the reign of His righteousness by grace. Oh, let us recover the wonder of our salvation, ponder, ponder the mystery, the deep mystery of the Trinity and God's threefold subsistence in one undivided essence. The power and certainty of your salvation does not depend upon you. Did you think it did? Was there some day you were led astray to think that the certainty of your salvation depended upon you, the certainty of you living a righteous life, of you being a righteous husband, or you being a righteous wife or mother, or you being a righteous friend? Do you suppose that that depends upon you? Oh my goodness, you've lost the wonder. You've lost the wonder. You've lost the last wonder in the world. King Jesus reigns in righteousness through grace, and you've missed the purpose of grace. You've excluded it to the pardon of sin only, not to the rule of a righteous life. Back up, the certainty of salvation doesn't depend on you, it depends upon the roles of each member of the Godhead. The father plans salvation and he sends his son with a commission of the last wonder of the fallen world. The firstborn son receives a commission of the last prophet, the last priest, the last king to be the mediator, the last covenant necessary to reveal what God is really like. in a fallen world, in our fallen world. As a final prophet, he teaches us the glory of God like no other prophet could. As a final priest, he makes a once-for-all sacrifice himself. He doesn't offer something else or someone else as a sacrifice. He offers himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for sin. Never needing ever to have another sacrifice offered to celebrate His once-for-all sacrifice. We do, don't we? In the Lord's supper, we do. but never ever needing any memorial, any ceremony, any sacrament but the Lord's Supper to celebrate His one for all sacrifice. He's the last priest. He's also the last King, the final King. How easy it is for us to remain rebels of God under every other king, under every other rule, under every other authority. I don't want to be your authority. I want to be under God's authority together with you, but I don't want to rule over anybody. I can't even rule my own life. But God can, and He does. by grace, by grace. How easy it is to remain rebellious of God under every other king, but oh, how sweet King Jesus subdues us to himself to fondly love a righteous submission and righteous service. Is God's only begotten Son the last wonder in your life, or is he a lost wonder for you? The Son fulfills His commission, lives a life of perfect obedience to God's law, upholding God as just and justifying the ungodly. Is that not? Take your breath away. Who could do it? Who could do such a thing as to uphold God's perfect righteousness so that God remains honorable and is restored as honorable to pardon us of all our sins? to forgive us, not to excuse, but to freely forgive us of all our sins. Jesus does as a substitute and a place of guilty sinners, unrighteous sinners. The righteous one does for the unrighteous, that we might become a righteousness of God in Him. Not the unrighteousness, for goodness sake. Not the wicked, for goodness sake. Not to remain sinful, for goodness sake. Not to remain rebellious sinners, for goodness sake. But the righteous does as a substitute for us, the unrighteous, that we might become the very righteousness of God in Him, in Him. More than that, the Son purchases the Spirit to indwell us, to apply the free love of God the Father and the free grace of God the Son, that we might love righteousness and hate lawlessness, just like our Savior. So how do you measure Him? How do you measure the last wonder of the world? How do you? Has God anointed you with His Spirit and the oil of gladness so that you'll love King Jesus' righteousness? Could we ever devise a plan to uphold the government of God's righteous law in a sinful world like ours? Could we? Could we devise a righteousness? Could we devise a plan of salvation? Could we devise grace like the infinite grace of God to pardon sinners and clothe us? The righteousness of God that we might become instruments of righteousness in a filthy, unrighteous Could you devise a plan of salvation like that? Could I? Could anybody? Could any human being? No. Not in a million years. Not in a million millions of years. Have you ever taken in the magnitude of the evil of evil into which grace comes? Have you? Have you ever taken in the sinfulness of your own sin for which grace is not only the pardon Not only the acquittal, not only the absolution, but the crediting of a righteousness upon which you live, the whole communion with a righteous God, a communion with righteous people. Have you ever taken in the magnitude of your own sin? Have you ever taken in the magnitude of the penalty of your own lawless deeds, your own lawless sins? The soul that sins shall surely die, Ezekiel 18 verse 6. Is it enough for you, for God to forgive your sin and absolve you from the penalty of death? Is it enough? Is that enough for you? It's not enough for God. God causes us to be born again by His Spirit that we might be recovered from sin and unrighteousness. In the new birth, the germ of holiness is implanted into every faculty of our soul. In the new birth, our mind and our heart and our will is disposed, as Ephesians 4 says, to truth and righteousness. Just see it. Every faculty of our being is disposed now, is given a new direction now, a new directive now towards holiness and truth and righteousness. All of our being is disposed as regenerate people to truth and grace reigning in righteousness. Is that your salvation? Is that the salvation that you preach? In time as we grow in holiness by living upon Christ, the love of what He loves and the hatred of what He hates is formed in us. We bear the fruits the Spirit plants on us in seed form, in germ form, in regeneration. And we grow to serve one another in righteousness to build Christ's church together to make our people glad and to make all the nations around us glad. We become instrumental in bringing in a righteousness by which everyone can live. Why? Because the glory of the last wonder of the world is burned up. All our self-righteousness and our selfish interest and our own selfish glory. Together as we grow in holiness, we eagerly await a future, a future of unrivaled glories of God in heaven. And finally, finally, the two problems plaguing this little house church, this little house church of Hebrew Christians, and our church, and every church in the world will be out of reach forever, forever and ever out of reach. These two plagues, these two sins, these two problems plaguing every church. And heaven will be forever enthralled with the glory, the undiminished glory. And the majesty of King Jesus will never struggle with dullness in our minds or dullness in our hearts. Ever again in heaven, we'll never struggle against it. We'll see him as he is. We'll know him as he knows himself. And we will never struggle with what our dullness causes. Our dullness causes apostasy. Our dullness causes a falling away from His covenant people. And heaven will never struggle with apostasy or falling away from Christ and His covenant people ever, ever again because we're compelled forever by the superior righteousness and the superior glory of King Jesus. And we will celebrate a grace that reigns through righteousness forever. and ever and ever. Can you chart the path of your own dullness? Can you? Do you? Do you not know that your dullness may well lead to your own apostasy? It has led to countless other professors countless other people who've been in the church for years and years and decades. Spiritual dullness has led to their falling away from Christ and His people. And if your dullness or my dullness doesn't lead to our own apostasy, it will surely lead to someone else's apostasy. That's the nature of dullness, isn't it? It will lead to someone falling away. That's why the preacher of Hebrews wants Jesus' supremacy, His kingship, the glory of His righteous reign by grace to burn everything in opposition to Christ out of our hearts to see it. Will you now pay more careful attention to the word about Christ as the last wonder of your world and mine? We've considered positively how to pay more careful attention to the glory of Christ and the greatness of our salvation. Now, from the last part of verse 1 briefly, let's consider negatively the problem of losing what we hear. Once again, verse 1 says, therefore, we must give a more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away. Jonathan Edwards says of our verse that we're in continual danger of losing what we don't use. You know that to be true in all the rest of life, don't you? You lose what you don't lose. You don't use your muscles, you lose the tones of the muscles. You don't lose, you don't use your memory, you lose what's in your mind, right? Edwards says of our verse, if we're not in continual, we're in continual danger of losing what we hear because we don't use it. Hebrews 5.14 says that we grow spiritually, grow in spiritual maturity to be able to teach others by reason of use. By reason of use. That's why some remained incapable. They ought to have been teachers, but they're incapable of teaching other people because of the lack of their own use of what they were hearing. What you hear, does it fall to the ground every Sunday? You don't even remember a single point of it, or salient point, the most important point. You let it fall to the ground. Oh, you've lost the wonder. You've lost the wonder. We become skilled in the word of righteousness, to produce righteousness by using the words we hear to train our spiritual senses, not only to see the beauty of Christ reigning in righteousness by grace, but to live in this righteousness by the same grace, to live righteous lives. by grace, to live in the beauty of this righteousness that we see in Christ. Self-righteousness is our favorite snack food, our favorite go-to snack food, but it's so devoid of the wisdom of God, so devoid of the power of God, so devoid of the life of God, when we live upon our own righteousness, we have no wisdom and no power and no life to produce righteousness, not an ounce of righteousness in another person. Oh, what dole, lifeless, godless misery we spread when we've grown dull. We're not exercised about the things we hear or the things we see in glory, the glories that we see in Christ. Has the beauty of everlasting righteousness lost its wonder? Are you drifting away from King Jesus who is seated forever upon a righteous, an eternally righteous, a forever righteous throne? And can you chart the course of drifting? Can you chart it? Can you chart the course of a righteous life? Can you chart the course of drifting away from righteousness of God? Can you chart it? Can you chart it here from the book of Hebrews now? Can you chart it? Can you chart the course of exalting King Jesus as a supreme ruler who sits upon a righteous throne by the grace that He gives you? Are you glad that he sits on a righteous throne in your life? Or is it the dullest thing you've ever heard in your life? Are you charting the course that Hebrews charts? The movement of the current of drifting is so subtle, it's so quiet, we hardly take any pains to notice when we're drifting. The sights and sounds of drifting are not like a hurricane, not like a storm. The sights and sounds of a hurricane or a tornado stops us in our tracks with utmost attention. We must be careful about this oncoming storm here. It's not like that about the dullness that causes drifting. We're lulled into such false security that at last we can't escape the perils, the perilous position in which we've drifted. We can't escape ourselves. We need help. We need a pastor's help. We need a friend's help. We're not misusing the grace of God to excuse them to live unrighteous lives. That's the kind of help we need. It sees Christ's righteousness as supremely glorious and the law as a wonderful rule to guide us in a righteous life by grace. The old pastor laments, oh, on how many rocky shoals do the hulls of good ships and the bones of gallant men tell the danger, hidden and drifting. Drifting seamen watch the clouds, they watch the winds, they watch the compass, but alas, they did not keep watch over their charts. To keep watch over your charts. You keep watch over this chart, that the preacher of Hebrews is so carefully painted for us to exalt Christ the Supreme in His person and His work of salvation. Do you know how to chart? Faithfulness, a course of faith and faithfulness in the glory of King Jesus. Are you charting the same course that Hebrews, the preacher of Hebrews charts? Do you chart the course of spiritual boldness and drifting away from Christ and His people? Do you chart the effect it'll have upon the closest person to you? Do you chart it? What effect does your spiritual dullness have upon those closest to you? What effect? You consider it. You consider it well. Consider carefully the way in which the preacher of Hebrews would have you consider. We consider the glory of Christ and the problem of losing what we hear. Now turn with me to verses 2 and 3, and the absolute certainty and inconceivable severity of God's judgment for neglecting His salvation. Therefore, we must give the most earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the words spoken through angels prove steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received its just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Neglecting the glory of King Jesus and the grace of so great a salvation to bring in everlasting righteousness, the everlasting righteousness of God is a peculiarly aggravated sin. You can see that, don't you? If the sins of Old Testament people, if the sins of old covenant people were punished, he's saying, how much more will the sins of new covenant people be punished? for the glory, for the greater glory revealed in the new covenant than in the old. It's an aggravated sin. The weightiest judgment possible follows neglecting the glory of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, believer, be ever so careful never to lose the Word of God that causes wonder. Be ever so careful never to lose the wonder, the last wonder in the world, the glory and supremacy of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you give more attention not to lose the last wonder of your world? This is our life together. This is our world. May we never lose the wonder, the last wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. making known to us the greater glory in the new covenant revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ as our final prophet, the last prophet, the last priest, the last king for the glory and supremacy, the greater brightness of God revealed in an insoluble, ineffable, eternal covenant of grace. by the last glory, by the last wonder, by the last majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Lord, help us. May we look out for one another. May we be careful to offer ourselves freely to one another, to guard against darkness about the Lord Jesus Christ. spiritual dullness, spiritual sleepiness, and drifting away from the Lord Jesus Christ, so that maybe we stay in the church all our lives, but we lose our children because we've lost a wonder, we've lost a glory, we lose our friends because we've lost a wonder, we've lost a glory, we lose one another. because of our spiritual dullness, our drifting away from Christ and one another. May we not drift, O Lord Jesus Christ. May we never drift from you nor one another ever again. May we hold out the glory of the righteous God. who sits upon a righteous throne, who gives us a righteous covering by the righteous grace of God in Jesus Christ. May it be so. Oh, Jesus, may it be so. Help us to celebrate. so great salvation even now in taking the Lord's Supper together. May our communion be sweeter than it's ever been ever before because we know, we know, we've seen the glory of Christ and the righteous law upheld by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. so that we might live righteous lives together and build a righteous church and a righteous kingdom in an unrighteous world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I suppose after a message like the one we've just preached, the worst thing in the world we could do is drink judgment to ourself or judgment to this church by not drinking with faith in the finished work of Christ. The finished work of Christ to make us acceptable to God, the finished work of Christ. The worst thing we could do is to drink in unbelief, to drink in doubt, to drink in spiritual dullness. Please, I beg you, if there's some dullness even now, and you've been drifting, correct it before you eat. Do it like that. You don't have to work it up. God has preached a glorious sermon to us this morning. His Spirit has anointed me with the oil of gladness that I have not had before. Oh my, I walk taking dullness and unbelief and doubt and drifting away from Christ and His covenant people. These are my people. This is my God forever and ever. I drink in faith and eat in faith. Let it be so. Gary, would you help me? Jesus fount of joy eternal Spring of endless love divine Deepest well once poured out for us Filling empty hearts with life. Come rejoice, be glad forever. Come rejoice, again in Christ, Jesus found of joy eternal, precious Savior, our delight. Long we drink from shallow waters, filled but never satisfied. Till when Calvary's flood broke open, mercy flowed in full supply. Oh what heights of truest pleasure Oh what depths of sacrifice Jesus found of joy eternal By his blood we're washed as white Just beyond these restless waters, there's a land where peace will reign. Sin and sadness there are swallowed in a sea of sovereign grace. On those shores we'll sing forever, planted by the streams of life. Jesus, fount of joy eternal, heaven's treasure, our delight. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11, "'For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed He took bread, and when he had given things, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Gary, would you pray for us? Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me. Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away, slain for us. And we remember the promise made that all who come in faith find forgiveness at the cross. So we share in this bread of life And we drink of His sacrifice As a sign of our bonds of peace Around the table of the King The body of our Savior Jesus Christ, torn for you. Heed and remember the wounds that healed, the death that brings us life, paid the price to make us one. So we share in this bread of life And we drink of His sacrifice As a sign of our bonds of love Around the table of the King The blood that cleanses every stain of sin shed for you. Drink and remember He drained His cup that all may enter in to receive the life of God. So we share in this bread of life And we drink of His sacrifice As a sign of our bonds of grace Around the table of the King and so with thankfulness and faith we rise to respond and to remember our call to follow in the steps of Christ as his body here on earth as we share In His suffering we proclaim Christ will come again And we'll join in the feast of them Around the table of the King In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. I'm going to ask Scott to pray for us before we partake. Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me. Would you please stand? Let us love and sing and wonder Let us praise the Savior's name He has hushed the law's loud thunder He has quenched Mount Sinai's flame He has washed us with His blood He has washed us with His blood He has washed us with His blood He has brought us nigh to God Let us love the Lord who bought us, pitied us when enemies Called us by His grace and taught us Gave us ears and gave us eyes He has washed us with His blood He has washed us with His blood He has washed us with His blood He presents our souls to God Let us sing, though fierce temptation Threatens hard to bear us down For the Lord, our strong salvation, Holds in view the conqueror's crown, He who washed us with His blood, He who washed us with His blood. He who washed us with his blood Soon will bring us home to God Let us wonder grace and justice. Join us, point to mercy's store. When through grace in Christ our trust is, justice smiles and has to know more. He who washed us with his blood. He who washed us with his blood. He who washed us with his blood Has secured our way to God Let us praise and join the chorus of the saints enthroned on high. Here they trusted Him before us. Now their praises fill the sky. Thou has washed us with Thy blood. Thou has washed us with Thy blood. Thou hast washed us with Thy blood Thou our worthy Lamb of God Yes, we praise Thee, gracious Savior Wonder, love, and bless Thy name Pardon, Lord, our sin Wash our souls and songs with blood Wash our souls and songs with blood Wash our souls and songs with blood For by Thee we come to God Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning. We are thankful for all the means of grace we've had this morning, and we're thankful for your preached word. I pray that we've taken it in. Hebrews says much about listening to God and God's word and what he has to say, and I pray that we have listened this morning, that we have taken it in. Help us to see Christ as our final prophet, priest, and king, no longer relying on our wisdom or our righteousness or our ruling our lives, but see that Christ has brought in a righteous kingdom into this world. we can turn away from our righteousness and see what the problems that our righteousness cause and embrace the righteousness for Christ. Help us to see our dullness and how it affects not only our life with God, but our life with one another and the division that it can cause. and that dullness can only come about by lost affections towards you. And I pray that through this morning's message, our affections have been raised towards you and that we would turn away from our worldly thoughts and ways of life and our natural way of thinking and turn back to God. I pray that you'd be with us around the table this afternoon, that you would be glorified and lifted up around it. And we are thankful for the food. We pray that you'd bless it to the nourishment of our body. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.