Biblical Basis for Mission

Well, good morning, am I oh am, I still on my good okay. It's it's indeed a pleasure and a privilege to be here and to share these next few days with you. I've looked forward to it for a while. This is my my second time coming to Wyoming, and I'm very excited to be back. The first time i'd come here, there were there were three states left that I hadn't seen, and this was one of them. And I still have got one more or two more actually that I have to see, and one of them is Wyoming. I mean, one of them is Montana, which is your neighbor, and I'll get there a little later this year. And the other one is North Dakota, which sometime it'll throw out up there and I may just go so that I can say I went. Uh. But no, it is a privilege to be here and to be among brothers and sisters in Christ. And that's the amazing thing. Wherever you go in the world, wherever you go in the United States, you find people with whom you have an affinity because we belong to the same family. Amen, regardless of what our accents sound like. And no, I don't have a Texas accent, even though I live in Houston. It's a whole nother story. Maybe you'll hear that later on this week if you have your Bibles with you. What we want to do today is lay a theological foundation for mission. It's one thing to talk about the need for mission and our desire for mission, our desire to spread the Gospel among the peoples of the earth. It's another thing to lay a theological foundation for why it is that we do that, and for why it is that it's important, why it is that that matters. And I want to do that from what may be an unlikely source, and that's from the Book of Revelation, Revelation chapter one. If you have your bibles, turn there to that last book in the Bible. A couple of things about this book as we begin. One, I had been told that Revelation was the easiest book in the New Testament to memorize, and I didn't. I didn't understand that until we preached through Revelation. We just finished a few weeks ago preaching through this entire book at our church in Houston, and I realized that that was absolutely true. Because of the way that the book is structured. There are several things about it that make it quite memorable. One thing is the imagery in the book Revelation. You know, contrary to popular belief, it's not a puzzle book. We think about it as a puzzle book. We think, you know, there's this great mystery, and there's this great puzzle, and if you, you know, hold your mouth just right and get a newspaper and a flashlight, you know, and then maybe you can kind of figure out what some of these things are. And it's absolutely not a puzzle book. It's not it's not that, it's not that kind of book. It's not all that mysterious. It's actually a picture book. There are symbols here that pay pictures, and the pictures are painted over and over and over again. And when you understand that sort of get this book in a way that you hadn't gotten it before. The other thing is one of those symbols that's very important is numbers. And it's these numbers and the symbols that make it easier to memorize one number, in particular, the number three. The number three is important because it's the number that is referencing God in Revelation. Because of the triune God Father's Son and the Holy Spirit. But also because it's kind of the cadence of the book, I call it the revelation Waltz. You know, it's kind of one two three one two three one two three. There are these things that comes in threes over and over and over again. And when you're trying to memorize something and you've got a pattern like that, this pattern of threes that comes over and over and over again, it really becomes easier for you to memorize. Plus the symbols that you see. Another number that's important is the number seven. We'll see that number in the passage that we look at here today in this first chapter. The number seven is the number of completion of perfection. Another number that's important, it's three and a half. Three and a half is important because it's a broken seven. It's half of a seven, and so oftentimes when something is designed for seven years or seven days, something will happen in three and a half days to prevent either the full destruction. And basically that number three and a half is a broken seven, and it's usually picturing God's rescue of his people. The number four is an important number. The number four is a reference to the earth, to the fullness of the earth, the four corners of the Earth, the four winds, so on and so forth. Just a little aside here. You know, there are those who make arguments, for example, the evolutionists and things of that nature, people who want to make arguments for global warming. One of the things that they'll say is, well, you know, you Christians who don't believe in all this evolution stuff. You know, there was a time when you guys believe that the world was flat. That's actually true. We've known since the Greeks that the world was round, and Christians have always understood that the world was round. What they're referring to is this idea of the four corners of the Earth. Early Christians who had the Book of Revelation knew that that was a reference to the number four and the totality of the earth, not to a flat earth. Christians have never believed in a flat earth. Don't let anybody tell you that. Well, anyway, that just I'll leave that at that. Okay, So that whole idea, you guys used to believe that the earth is flat, and now you believe that the lie to lie from the pit never been true. That baron false witness against our God and his people. And so when you read about the people of the earth, when you read about every tribe and nation and tongue and kindred tribe, four that means all people all over the earth, okay, fullness of the earth, totality of the earth. Number ten is another important number. It's another number of completion, but it's used almost exclusively in reference to the beast and the false prophet and the dragon, to the unholy Trinity. The number twelve is significant, the number twelve and then the number twenty four or multiples of twelve, one hundred and forty four thousand, twelve times twelve times one thousand. Okay. So the number twelve is the number for the people of God, the people of God in the Old Testament, twelve tribes of Israel, the people of God in the New Testament, twelve apostles. So when you see the twenty four elders around the throne, that's a picture of the totality of the people of God around the throne from the Old and New Testament. That number again, one hundred and forty four thousand, twelve times twelve times one thousand. When you understand the importance of these numbers. You understand what's being communicated when they're being used. And so with that in mind, I want us to look here. We're going to examine really verses four through seven. We want them back up a little bit, just to sort of contextualize this and let you get a feel for what's happening. Verse one the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness. Now again, this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. God give it to him. They gave it to his angels, and then to his servants. So that's one two three. Now watch what happens John, who bore witness to the word of God, to the testimony of Jesus, even to all that he saw, one two three. And then, in case you didn't get the one two three, one two three, how about another one two three. Verse three. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, And blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it. One two three, one two three one two, three. That's the revelation Waltz. Okay, you find it throughout this letter, and it really does make things easier to memorize. Now our passage John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Now we've introduced that number seven, and number seven is important because it's number of completion or perfection. Now, there were more than seven churches in Asia when Revelation was written. But John wrote this letter specifically to seven of those churches. Because there are seven key churches, and because of the number seven is a number completion, He's writing this to all the churches. But they also exist in a circular postal route. So you're writing a letter from the Lord to his churches and you send it to seven particular churches in Asia that are along a circular postal route. Again, not a postal book. This is a picture book. That's a picture that John is painting. Okay, And as people read this in their minds, he doesn't say anything about the postal route. Right, But anybody who travels around Asia, and by the way, there are no hotels at this time. Amen, there's no hotels at this time. So if there are no hotels at this time, Christian hospitality. We think Christian hospitality is just about you know, jaring neils together, this and the other. Not. So when Christians would travel around the area, they would stay with their brothers and sisters, so they would find the churches in these various cities, and that's how they would be cared for through Christian hospitality. So if you traveled along this postal route, every one of these churches, you would have known because it's a highway. So when Paul talks about this church and this church and this church and this church, he doesn't have to say, hey, guys, I'm going in a circle around the postal route. When they hear the names, in their minds, they go, yep, that churchill, that church will be Oh by the third or fourth church. They know exactly what he's doing, and they even know what church is coming next, and what church is coming next. It's a picture book. Wasn't meant to confuse people. It was meant to reveal, so to seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace. This is important. When you read the epistles, you find this idea of grace and peace and in essence. The Book of Revelation is an epistle in one sense, and that it was written to these churches. In another sense, it's apocalyptic literature, which borrows from the prophetic books of the Old Testament. So you have this kind of mixture of prophetic literature and an epistle all wrapped up into one, and you got to keep both things in mind when you interpret. So grace in peace, common greeting among believers, grace and peace, or grace to you and peace to you. So common greeting among believers, Grace to you and peace from whom well, from three individuals who are they? Well? First from Him who is and who and who is to come. We'll look it there, one two three, So the first of these individuals is represented by one two three, and from the seventh spirits who are before his throne. Huh. The second of these individuals is represented by a seven perfection and completion. And from Jesus Christ, who is he, the faithful Witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He's represented by one two three. So we have one two three and then a seven, and then a one two three. So who is this well a couple of possible answers but let me just cut to the chase. This is a reference to the Trinity. This is a reference to the Father and the Spirit and the Son. It's interesting because it's an inverted reference to the Trinity. Usually when we hear references to the Trinity, it's reference to Father, Son and Holy Spirit almost exclusively. That's the formula. That's the Trinitarian formula, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Here we've got Father and then we've got spirit. Spirit is referenced in a very unusual way, seven spirits before his throne and then we have son. Why Well, for a number of reasons. One because the focus here is on Christ, and there are some things that are being said about Christ after this grace and peace introduction. So Christ is put last so that he can continue on and give a fuller picture of Jesus. But secondly, there is a picture of juxtaposition, the idea that you're in a throne room and that there is something before the throne that has seven spirits, completion of spirit. You know that there's one spirit, one complete, perfect spirit. But what's with the number seven. Well, there is a piece of furniture in the throne room that has seven parts. It's made of one single piece of gold, but it has seven parts, seven lamps on it. To be exact, these lamps have oil in it, oil oftentimes representative of the Holy Spirit. It's called minora, and so here the Holy Spirit is pictured as the manura. In the Throne room. In chapters four and five, we're going to see a picture of worship, and that's going to make a whole lot more sense. But when you understand that this is a trinitarian reference, when you understand that the number seven is this number of completion and perfection, and when you understand that it's a pic of a minora, it becomes quite obvious that what John is doing is giving us a trinitarian greeting, a greeting in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Well, what does this have to do with anything? I'm glad you asked, because it's about our mission, right. Well, first and foremost, John is presenting here the supremacy of Christ and the worthiness of Christ to be worshiped. And first and foremost Christ is worthy to be worshiped because of who he is, Well, who is he? He is God, He is the second person in the Trinity. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God. Christ is worthy of our worship because he is God again, not just because he's a good man, not just because he's a good teacher, not because he's one of the sages of the ages, but because he is God. And if we worship Christ as anything less than God, then we are not worshiping him adequately or accurately. The Muslims pay homage to Isa, but they do not worship him as God. In fact, in Muslim societies, to ascribe partnership to Allah is shirk or blasphemy, punishable by death. Muslims are killed for coming to faith in Jesus Christ because of ascribing partners to God. And yet Jesus or Esa is figured prominently in Islam, but not as God. The Buddhists think highly of Jesus, but not as God. The Hindus think highly of Jesus, but not as God in our sense. They believe in thousands, if not millions, of gods, so it doesn't mean a whole lot to be a God. In Hinduism. There are many who pay homage to this Jesus. The secularists pay homage to Jesus, but Jesus is just a secularist to them. Jesus is just another individual to them. But the text here makes it clear that Christ is not just worthy of our remembers, Prince, he is worthy of our worship because he is God. Not like God, not close to God, not almost God. He's God. Told the story earlier of a plane ride that I took with a woman who had a book. There's a New Age book about Jesus, and so we just we had to we had to discuss this, and so she's talking about Jesus, and I just asked her at one point what she believed about Jesus, and she gave the classic answer that he was a good man, he was a good teacher, and he was a good prophet. Damn, she was done. She was so close. All that stuff is true, but you probably don't even believe it. And I just told her, I said, you really you know? Okay, let me check. Let me check something here, Because you said he believes a good man and a good teacher and a good prophet. Do you believe he's God? Well no, no, no, not no, I don't believes God. Okay, all right, you don't believe he's God. That's problematic. Do you believe that he is the only way to salvation. Oh no, no, no, no, there are many roads that lead to God. Oh problematic. Do you believe he died for sin, rose in the third day, coming again to judge of living in the dead, and he's gone to prepare place for his people he's gonna come again? Orself? No, no, no, I don't believe any of that. Then you have a real problem. Why because you just contradicted yourself. Why Well, you said you believe that Jesus is a good man. Yes, but you don't believe that he's God. No, But he said, I and my Father are one. He said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Jesus claimed to be God. If he claimed to be God but he's not God, then that would mean he's a liar and a blasphemer. Last time I checked, liars and blasphemers are not good men. You also said that you believe Jesus is a good teacher, but you don't believe that he is the only way to salvation. You believe there are many roads that lead to God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth in the life. No man comes to the Father except by me. If there is any other way for a person to be saved apart from Jesus Christ, that means he's a false teacher. Last time I checked, false teachers are not good teachers. You also said you believe he's a good prophet. But he prophesied that he would die, and that he would raise again on the third day, that he would ascend to his father, that he would go and prepare a place for us, that he'd come again and receive us unto hisself, and that he would judge the living and the dead. If none of that is true, then Jesus is a false prophet. Last time I checked. False prophets are not good prophets. So you have a problem because you cannot. You must not on the one hand call him good man, good teacher, good prophet, and on the other hand, deny everything that he is and taught and prophesied. It's not possible to have it both ways. He is worthy of our worship. He is worthy of our worship to be worshiped as God, because he's God, and this is what drives our mission. All men everywhere owe him worship, and it is our desire that he be worshiped in the fullness of all that we have to offer him. And so while there are men who yet do not worship him, our work is not complete. Because Christ is not just worthy of my worship. When I understand that he's God, my worship is not sufficient enough for him. Your worship must come, your worship, your worship, your worship. All of us and everyone who has ever been or ever will be must worship him. And here's a newsflash. At that point, we still won't fill up all the worship that Christ is worthy of. It's going to take all eternity and all creation to do that, and it will never end. This is why mission exists. It has been said mission exists because worship does not, and as long as there are places where worship does not exist, mission must cantinue to exist. Secondly, when we're looking at who he is, note this other triad. He is the faithful Witness. Here's the first thing. He's a faithful witness, so he's God, but he's also the faithful Witness. What is meant here? I believe there are a couple of things meant here. When you read Revelation, one of the things that you run into again and again and again is this idea of the witnesses, by the way, that word for witness and the Greek is a word that is often sounds exactly like our word for martyr, and the faithful witnesses in revelation or the martyrs. And again and again and again we hear from the martyrs, and their cry is how long, Oh God? How long? What? How long until their vindication? The martyrs are wondering when they're going to be vindicated? When is God going to vindicate with his wrath those who have killed his people? And the answer that comes again and again is not long, and not until the fullness of your number is complete. There are more martyrs to come. There are more who will be faithful, even unto death. But even the martyrs and their faithfulness unto death is only a mere shadow of the faithfulness of Christ, who is faithful not only unto death, but was also faithful prior to his death through full obedience to God and his law. There's a second sense in which Christ is a faithful witness, and that is a sense in which there have been witnesses throughout redemptive history. And these witnesses have all failed at one point or another. And so we have Adam, and he failed and he ate the fruit. We have Noah. Noah belt the ark, and then he fell into drunkenness. And we have Abraham. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. But he also had hagar. We have Moses. Moses was a murderer. We have David. David was an adulterer and a murderer. Solomon multiplied wives by the hundreds, and again and again and again and again and over and over and over. There are these witnesses who have the same flaw, and that is that they are sinners in need of a redeemer. That is, until Christ comes on the scene. He is the faithful witness, and he is the redeemer of God's people. Not only is he the faithful witness, but he is the firstborn from the dead, the firstborn from among the dead. It's interesting if you ever meet someone and they introduce you to a child of theirs, and they say, this is my firstborn, Johnny, what they've just told you is that they have other children. Because unless you have other children, the term firstborn means absolutely nothing. Firstborn means they come first in order of descent. So for Christ to be referred to as firstborn from the dead. There's a reference here, there's an implication here, and the implication here is that his resurrection will have an impact on us. There are others who will be resurrected. He's the firstborn from the dead. There are others to follow. Well, wait a minute, man, wait a minute, Wait a minute, Wait a minute, Why Lazarus. Wouldn't Lazarus be the firstborn from the dead. Nope? Why Lazarus wasn't resurrected? Yes he was, he was dead. Jesus, Lazarus come forth. The Lazarus came forth, and he had his gray clothes, and they unbound him and everything, and he was resurrected. No, actually he wasn't. Lazarus was resuscitated. What's the difference. When you're resurrected, you don't die again. Lazarus is dead, y'all. Amen. If he wasn't, he'd be here leading the mississ conference. Okay, Christ is the first one resid erected from the dead, and there will be others to follow. The dead in Christ shall rise. Amen, there will be a trumpet sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise. This is our hope. You see, every man everywhere has had to deal with fear of the last enemy. Last time I checked at death rate was one per person. You can check it today, you can check it tomorrow. It'll still be the same. And every man everywhere has had to deal with that reality that we will all die, and none of us knows what happens next except one except one who died and rose never to die again, one who took with him the keys of death and hell, the one who here is referred to as the first born from among the dead. He is worthy of our worship because he is God, because he is the faithful witness, and because he is the firstborn from the dead, because every one of us will face death, and he is the one who has conquered death on our behalf, so we worship him. And finally, he is the ruler of all the kings of the earth. Amen. He's worthy of our worship because there is no one and there is nothing on earth that is worthy of our worship besides him. There is no authority on earth that exceeds his authority. There is no authority in Heaven that exceeds his authority. He is the ruler of the kings on the earth. I remember the first time I was present for the singing of the Hallelujah chorus and Handles Messidah. I don't know anything about it. I didn't grow up in church. I was raised and drug infested, gang infested south central Los Angeles, California, by a single teenage Buddhist mother. Never heard the gospel till I went to university. So I didn't know much of anything. As we say down in Texas, I didn't know. Come here from Sickham, okay. And so we're at this Handle's Messiah thing and they start to sing this out of the music was beautiful, and they start to sing this Halleujah chorus and everybody starts standing up all over the place. So I just kind of stood up with everybody else. How did y'all know to do that? It's just you know. And the guy who I was with, he just said, oh, you know, it's it's the Handles Messiah. Just when that part comes, you stand up? Why? I don't know, man, just when that park comes, you stand up. And I asked another person and another person another person. Nobody could tell me why you stand up at that part of Handles of Messiah. Looked at the handles Messiah. Look at the music. It doesn't say, right here, stand up? Why do you stand up? You know? When he starts singing how or why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? And then finally somebody shared with me the history of Handle's Messiah. And after this composer had finally finished this piece that was just a nut he couldn't crack, finally finished it and he presented it. And then one of the first presentations of the Messiah, the king was present, and during the Hallelujah chorus, the King of England, the most powerful man in the world at the time, was so overcome that he stood to his feet. And when the King stands, everybody else stands. And to this day we stand at that point in Handles Messiah. That's why he is the ruler of the kings of the earth. The most powerful man on this planet must bowed to Christ. The most powerful thing on this planet must bow the need to Christ. He is worthy of our worship because of who he is. He is God. He is God who wrapped himself in flesh. He's the faithful Witness. He is God who died and rose again. He's the first born from among the dead, and he is the ruler of all the kings of the earth, and so we worship him. We worship him, and so we call others to worship him because of this. And by the way, this is enough. It's enough. I am God, Worship me. That's enough. God does not have to explain anything beyond that. In fact, he doesn't even have to explain that. Amen, he's not running for God, y'all. He's the faithful witness. Worship him. Makes sense. He's the first born from among the dead. Worship him. It makes sense. He's a ruler of the kings of the earth. Makes sense. Worship him, Worship him, worship him, worship him. Worship him, Yes, absolutely, because of who he is, but also because of what he's done. The next line comes out of nowhere, to him who loves us. So far what we have seen is this overwhelming, all inspiring, almost fearful presentation of the one who demands our worship. And then, all of a sudden, when we realize that we have no argument left, there's this line, to him who loves us, To Him who loves us God, you better worship him. He's a faithful witness. You better worship him. He's a firstborn among the dead. You better worship him. He's a ruler of the kings of the earth. You better worship him. He loves us. We get to worship him. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. He loves us. It's a great thing to be loved, it really is. But not all love is equal. It's one thing to say, my dog loves me, and they do. They're wonderful, loyal creatures, and so we feed him. They love us, and that's awesome. It's another thing to say, my children love me, and they do, and it is. It is a glorious thing to be loved by your children. It's an overwhelming thing. But you know what, when they get here, they're completely and utterly dependent upon us, and we take care of them, and they love us. It's another thing to be loved by your grown children, Hey man, it is. It's another thing to be loved by my wife. It's the one who knows me for real and loves me nonetheless. See my children think that there's an ess on my chests. Okay, my wife knows there's not. It's quite another thing to say the one who spoke the world into existence, the one who created created man from the dust, the one who suspended the stars in space, the one who sustains everything that there is, the one who makes the seasons change, the one who keeps us far enough away from the sun so that we don't fry, but close enough so that we don't freeze. The one at whose voice the angels bow and humble submission. That one that one loves us. That's a different thing altogether, especially when you understand that that love is not just sort of left out there without definition. Does it mean that he loved us? Next line and has freed us from our sins by his blood. What an amazing turn of phrase. He has freed us from our sins by his blood. This is a reference to the cross, without saying anything about the cross. This is a reference to the implications of the cross. This is a reference to what Christ has accomplished on the cross. And so in the midst of this and behind this statement is a bloody cross. Behind this statement is the spotless, sinless lamb of God being crushed and killed for the glory of his father. And yet the implication of that, what does it do? Why did he do it? Because God made him who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. As Isaiah says, all we like sheep, had gone astray. Each of us had turned to his own way. But God had caused the iniquity of us all to be laid upon him. This is what is meant. The Christ, the perfect, sinless lamb of God, God, the Son, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of all the kings of the earth. He loved us, and he died for us in order to liberate us from our own sinfulness, when there was absolutely no hope that anyone or anything else could do that. So he worship him. What else could we do but worship him? What else would make sense but to worship him? What else would make sense but that we would tell the rest of the world to worship him. You got to know this. How can I know this and you not know this? How can I know this and receive this and appreciate this and you not know this? Let the nations be glad. There's a final peace, and made us a kingdom of priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. I'm in What is this this thing. What does this mean? He metas the kingdom a priest. Turn to the left and look at first Peter one Peter chapter two, beginning of verse four. As you come to him a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious you, yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Your worship is unacceptable to God apart from Jesus Christ. So now let me put it into perspective for you. Christ stands at the head of the universe, and he says, I am God. Worship me. Even if you wanted to, and you don't. You're a sinful creature and you don't. But even if you wanted to, and you said, okay, fine, I worship you, the answer would be Nope, you can't, because there's nothing you have that you're worthy to bring before me. I'm the faithful Witness. Worship me. You wouldn't. But even if you could, you would say, okay, fine, you're the faithful Witness. I worship you. The answer would be no, you can't, because there is nothing in you that will allow you to even come into my presence. I'm the first born from among the dead. Worship me, Okay, fine, I worship you. No, you can't why because your hands are covered with blood and you can't clean them. I'm the ruler of the kings of the earth. Worship me. Okay, fine, fine, fine, I worship you. The problem is you can't why because your soul is filthy and scarred. You can't even begin to worship me. Now we have a problem. We owe God worship, and every man owes God worship. But no man is worthy to bring God anything that is worshipful unless He loves us and frees us from our sins by his blood and thereby makes us a kingdom of priests to offer acceptable sacrifices to God. Christ makes us worthy to worship, but not just us. Turn to the rights and look in chapter five. Look in chapter five. Let's just go back up the verse six. I just love the language of this. I wish you okay, the whole chapter just needs to be read. Go to back the verse six, and between the throne and the four living creatures, and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, set out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowles full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals? For you were slain, and by your blood you ransom people for God from every tribe and language, and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom of priests to our God. And they shall reign on the earth to see all of that language, the fours and the sevens and the threes, and all of that language. But also there's a picture. Why did Christ die? Why did he die? He died in order to ransom a worshiping people for God, who would worship around his throne from every tribe and nation and kindred and tongue. There's our mission. That is why the Gospel must go to every tribe and every nation, and every kindred and every tongue. This is why, because this is what the sacrifice of the Lamb of God demands. Missions exist because worship does not. He's worthy of our worship because he's God. He's worthy of our worship because he's the faithful witness and the first one from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. He's worthy of our worship because he loves us and he frees us from our sins by his blood. He's worthy of worship because he makes us worthy to worship God, or otherwise we could not. This is why missions exist. This is why we gather in this place. This is why we sing the songs that we sing. And then we have the audacity to get upset. I don't know if I like the way that song made me feel. Who do you think you are? You think this is for you? We do this because he's worthy of it. We do this because when we understand who he is, there's no other logical response. We do this because when you get your head around this, if you don't worship, you'll bust. Amen. And we have to and we get to and it's all wrapped up in one and when we understand that we have to and we get to, and we find other people who don't, we want to tell them you have to, and you get to. There may be some even here today. And you've been coming before God in your own stead, trying to offer something acceptable to God, because something on the inside of you knows that you owe it to him. And so you think that maybe by showing up you can appease God. Maybe by giving you can appease God. Maybe by you know, turning away from a few bad habits, you can appease God. Maybe by this, by that, by the other. Please stop, Please stop. God hates that. That's pretty strong. It is not my words, though. Turn to the left last passage, Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah chapter one, beginning verse ten. Listen, hear the word of the Lord, Your rulers of Sodom, give ear to the teachings of our God, you people of Gomor. By the way, Sodom and gomorre are toast. They're gone when Isaiah's written, they don't exist anymore. So he's speaking about Israel in their sinful state. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord. I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or lambs or goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? What a phrase. These people are coming to do worship stuff, and God says it's trampling of my courts. Bring no more vain. Offering incense is an abomination to be new moon in Sabbath and the calling of convocations. I cannot endure iniquity on the solemn assembly, your new moons and your appointed feast. My soul hates, My soul hates. That's God. I don't write the mail, I just deliver it. They have become a burden to me. I'm weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, Seek justice, correct oppression, Bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow's case. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like whoa? How does that happen? He loves us, and he frees us from our sins by his blood. And it is only then that we offer what is acceptable if you come apart from repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What you are offering is unacceptable. You owe it, you better do it, But it's still unacceptable. So what you do? You flee to Christ. You run to him, You cast yourself upon him and plead for his mercy. You cry out to a holy and righteous God and acknowledge the fact that you cannot save yourself, and that you are in desperate need of another, another who died in the stead of sinners who couldn't save themselves. You throw yourself upon his mercy and do not plead your case, acknowledge that you don't do deserve it, and if you understand that, you are ready to receive it. Because it is only then that you understand the magnitude of Christ and the distance between His righteousness and your sinfulness. Flee to Christ, God, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, who loves us and frees us from our sins by his blood and makes us a king of priests. Verse seven. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, Amen, amazing. This passage that has everything to do with Christ and his magic, ends with every tribe, every tribe. This is why we do missions. This is the biblical theological foundation. This is our motivation. Anything less is woefully insufficient. Let's pray God, our heavenly Father, Christ, our redeemer Holy Spirit, are sustainer. God. We come before you as a humble and grateful people, humbled by the majesty of Christ that's set forth in your word. Humble by his majesty that we cannot comprehend fully, and yet comprehend enough to know that it is worthy of more than we can offer. Humbled by the fact that we recognize that we are sinful people who say and do and think things that are unworthy to be mentioned in your presence. Humbled by the fact that we know that we try to justify ourselves that we demean the sacrifice of Christ, by believing that we can somehow present ourselves before you as righteous and humble as we are. We are also a grateful people, Grateful because in our sin you meet us, Grateful because in our darkness you are light, Grateful because in our confusion you bring truth. Grateful because in our unworthiness Christ makes us worthy and grateful, because Christ makes us a kingdom of priests who can offer acceptable worship to you, O, God, worship that you're worthy of, and worship that you delight in because of Christ. Grant by your grace that we would see this, that we would hear this, that we would embrace this, that we would believe this, that we would live this, and that we would proclaim this, that Christ might have the fullness of the reward for which he died. We ask this in his matchless name, Amen.