God is Our Mediator

Sometimes I think it would be nice if the Pope were real. Now, I do think the Pope is a real human being that wears funny hats and extravagant robes sitting in the Vatican. I don't doubt the existence of that person. I just doubt his authority or his supposed position and power. Sometimes I think it'd be nice if the Pope had the power to declare, yes, you are a Christian or your sins are absolved. It'll be nice to have a nice piece of paper with the papal seal saying you get to go to heaven. It'd be nice to tuck that underneath your pillow at night, sleep well, having this document, this external evidence, this external wisdom to give you comfort, to give me comfort in my sinful condition. Well, I don't believe the pope is real in his authority and his supposed power, mainly because I believe this would cause confusion with the gospel. It would reduce the power of Christ. We're not supposed to find comfort in some external testimony. We're not supposed to find absolute testimony in any one man and what he says about us. We're supposed to find comfort in Christ alone. And what he's done for us and where he is at the right hand of the Father. We're not supposed to find comfort in what a man says, what a man declares or some piece of paper or authoritative document or certificate of what he says. We're supposed to find comfort in the indwelling testimony of the spirit that groans against our sin and helps us to long for Christ and his complete redemption. This morning, we're going to look at the stories of Lot putting himself in danger. of Avram rescuing him and then Melchizedek mysteriously appearing and disappearing as quickly as he appears to bless Avram. We're going to look at four major sections in chapters 13 to 14. First, we're going to see that Avram and Lot, their shepherds are fighting because they've been so blessed by their time in Egypt. They have too many sheep. They have too many servants and there's not enough land for both of them where they are. And so they're going to depart. The second section shows that Avram, being the older, wiser man, trying to care for Lot, gives him the choice of where he would go. He chooses to live near the cities, particularly Sodom. Next, we see that Lot is taken away after a battle between the kings in the area, and Avram rescues him. And then we'll see the king of Salem, Mechizedek, come out and bless Avram. Let's read chapter 13 as we begin. So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negev. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold, and he journeyed on from the Negev, as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord, and Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together. For their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Avram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time, the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land. Then Avram said to Lot, Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord and like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley and Lot journeyed east Thus they separated from each other, and Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. The Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land that you see, I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you. So I'll move to sin and came and settled by the Oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron. And there he built an altar of the Lord. So here we have some strife happening. Avram, the uncle, Lot, the nephew, they both come out of Egypt rich, their pockets full. Avram coming out humbled, probably a little embarrassed by his lying to the Pharaoh and the Pharaoh kicking him out. But they came out rich, their pockets full of silver and gold, their herds much greater now than they were when they first went in. And Abraham looking and saying, there should not be strife between us, between our herdsmen. You separate. He's giving Lot the opportunity to choose where he will go. And Lot lifted his eyes and saw the Jordan Valley. He saw that it was watered well. He saw that it was like Egypt. That it was rich. There were great opportunities. There was great opportunities for prosperity there. He sees Sodom. The city. The opportunity to do trading now with his new riches, with his new wealth. It drew him. It drew him to the valley of Jordan. Now, if we look at this, it's on the outskirts of the promised land. Lot is choosing an opportunistic place to live. He's choosing to be close to outside of God's provision in his land, in his promised land, if not right outside of it. He's living close to Sodom, which our Narrator reminds us this is before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, in case you forgot that this was a wicked place. Then in verse 13, now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. Lot is not choosing wisely. Lot is looking for opportunities for greater gain and greater wealth and prosperity without recognizing the dangerous position he's putting himself in. He's willing to be close to Sin City and on the outskirts of the promised land, not guarding himself and his family from these sinners in Sodom, not guarding himself from their influence on his family and himself. Now, if you think about the promised land, it's helpful to kind of get into the Hebrew mindset or the ancient Near East mindset. There's three things that need to be in order to be at Shalom or at peace. God, land, and people. Those three things need to be aligned. You need to be the right people living in the right land, worshiping the right God. They have territorial deities. Now, we believe in one God, but this is the ancient Near Eastern mindset. They believed that each land had its own God, and that God would designate His own people, and those people needed to worship Him. Here we see Lot, if you're reading this as a Hebrew, you see Lot moving himself out of the land of Israel. from God's place. Now, God is the one creator of all the world, but he has designated this land as his land. This is where his people would be. And Lot is moving himself out of that sphere. Lot is choosing to be on the outskirts of God's good plan of salvation and closer to sin. If we read this as the Hebrew would have, as we should, we should see Lot putting himself in danger's way because of the simple description of Sodom, because he's moving himself outside of God's realm. If we look at verses 14, through the end of the chapter, we'll see God here making a promise again to Abram. He's reminding Abram of the great promise. He's going to mention the land. There's less boundaries this time. Look to the east as far as you can see. Look to the west as far as you can see. Look as far as you can see, and that's yours. I like how Abram walks it. He walks around the land that God has promised him. Now, this is, well, because I was familiar with the story, as soon as I bought my property here in Charlottesville, this is the first thing I did. I took a walk around the land. I said, this is my responsibility. This is where I live. This is my new responsibility. One of my favorite things I did soon after, as soon as my father drove up, I said, Dad, let's take a walk around the land. Let's look at it. Let's think about it. Let's think about how we're going to possess it and care for it. It's a great imagery of Avram claiming claim to this land. The second great promise we see is God promising Avram descendants. More than he can ever count. It's not literally the dust of the earth. The point here is, if anyone could ever count the dust of the earth, they could also count your descendants. It's beyond comprehension how many your descendants will be, Abram. And there's two ways he could be referring to this. It could be the physical descendants of him. Or it could be the spiritual descendants. As we know from the New Testament here, more in focus are the spiritual descendants of Abraham. The ones who believe in God's promises and trust him. And Abraham responds in the only way he should. He builds an altar. And he praises God. And so here we have uncle and nephew separated. Abram is rejoicing in God's land. He's praising God. He's hearing promises from God. And Lot has drawn close to Sin City. He's drawn close to temptation. And he's drawn farther away from God. And, well, he gets into trouble very quickly. We can look there at verse chapter 14. I'm not going to read that because of all the names. I'll let you all enjoy doing that out in front of your mirrors as you want to read this to yourself and try to pronounce all these names. But here we have four kings versus five. And because of Lott's position, I think because of his foolish decision, he gets captured by the kings. Abraham is notified and he goes out with his trained men, with his worthy men, and he overcomes these great kings. And he rescues Lot, and he rescues all the possessions of the other kings. What we really want to focus on is, I think, the end stress of the passage, the main focus of our passage, and that's verses 17 through 24. After his return of Ram from the defeat of Kedor Laomer, Kedor Laomer, that's a fun one. And the kings were with him. The king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Sheva, that is, the king's valley. And Mechizidek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed him and said, Blessed be Avram by God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Avram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Avram, give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself. But Avram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say I have made Avram rich. I will take nothing but what the young men had eaten and the share of the men who went with them. Let Anair, Escol and Mamre take their share. Here we see a very unusual figure. They were the most fascinating people in all the Old Testament, all scripture, because it says so much about him, but yet we know so little about him. There's great declarations and who he is and who he could be. He has so little biography, so little time, so little information. What we get are just short, rich snippets into who this figure is Melchizedek. If we look at the king of Salem and the king of Sodom first, we're going to see these two kings are contrasted. The king of Salem is proclaimed great and merciful and mighty, and the king of Sodom rude. And harsh. Notice that the King of Sodom went out to meet Avram. This King of Sodom, he just goes out to meet him and he doesn't say anything at first. He comes out silently. And then it says the King of Salem, he brought out. That's the same Hebrew word there. The King of Salem went out with bread and wine. So the King of Sodom doesn't bring out a gift. He doesn't bring out a thank you. He doesn't bring out a blessing. He just comes out to meet him. It's just an awkward silence now. And that's contrasted with the King of Salem bringing out bread and wine. And this just isn't the typical gift. What would be typical is if the King of Salem brought out bread and water. That would be the basic diet. That would be the basic gift to bring out to a victorious of Ram and thankfulness. He brings out bread and wine. It's a royal gift. He's offering a royal feast. So what we see here is the king of Salem bringing out more than just a basic blessing or a basic gift. It's a royal feast. It's a royal celebration. In contrast, the king of Sodom that comes up silently. And then Melchizedek blesses of Ram. Whereas the King of Sodom just coldly and harshly says, give me my stuff. These two figures are contrasted intentionally. As you look at Melchizedek, he's not just related to the King of Sodom in this contrast, but to Avraam. He blesses Avraam and Avraam gives him a tithe. This is rather unusual because, as we heard from Hebrews 7, Whoever blesses the other one, well, that's the superior to the inferior. King Melchizedek, by blessing Avram, the patriarch of patriarchs of Israel, he is showing that he is superior to Avram. And by giving him a tithe, Avram is agreeing that he is superior. This is one of the things that makes him stand out as rather unusual in the Old Testament. Secondly, his position. He's king of Salem, probably king of Jerusalem itself. Translated, that means king of peace. His name means king of righteousness. He's unusual in the fact that he's the first priest ever mentioned in Scripture. Now, we could go back and maybe Cain and Abel were acting like priests by giving offerings, but this is the first mention of a priest. This is the first true Old Testament priest. These things all make him rather mysterious, but really what the New Testament emphasizes is the fact that he shows up and disappears. So quickly, without any genealogy in the past, without ever telling us what happens in the future, without knowing anything about Him, He just shows up, makes a great blessing, makes a bold statement. And that's how we get to know about Him. Now, many have assumed maybe this is a theophany or a Christophany. That is an appearance of God or an appearance of Christ before the incarnation. I see the possibility of that, but I don't think it's likely there's nothing in the text that points that this is God himself. Typically, when there's a theophany, there's an offering and there's a great fire, a cloud of smoke that comes in and devours that offering to show this is God and his offering has been accepted. Here, he just shows up and disappears. I think he's a historical king who prefigures Christ in a very unusual way. First, he's king of Jerusalem. He's the king of peace. He prefigures the true king of peace, the prince of peace who will come, the king who will die on the cross, king of the Jews, Jesus Christ himself, the most important king, the one who will bring true peace to all the world. He prefigures Christ because of his title. He prefigures Christ because of his name. He is the king of righteousness, Melchizedek. Christ is the true righteous king. Christ is true righteousness. Christ alone is truly good and holy and right before God. He is the one who finally delivers his people into righteousness. So, he prefigures Christ first by his position as the king of Jerusalem. Secondly, in his name, the king of righteousness. And thirdly, as the book of Hebrews points out, He figures Christ because Christ is not of the priestly order of the Levites. Christ is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He has no beginning and he has no end. Now, we will discuss that more. But before we get into Christ and his salvation, his redemption, let's think about our sin first. Let's think about how our sin is revealed in this text. And I think that's We need to think about a lot. We need to think about a lot in those first few chapters. What do we learn about ourselves? What do we learn about our sin? It's very simple. Flirting with sin is dangerous. Flirting with sin is dangerous. That's very intentional there that we're talking about flirting with sin. We're not talking about partaking and actively pursuing sin. We're talking about what may be considered as innocent flirtations with sin, getting close to sin, but not really partaking in it. You see, Lott doesn't talk about him going into Sin City, doesn't talk about him participating in the sins of the city, but it clearly shows that he is foolish in the fact that he draws near to the city. He draws near to the sin. It's enticing. He's drawn near to the opportunities without thinking about the damage that that place could bring. He's drawn near with the hope that he could have prestige and grow in wealth. He could fill his pockets even more by doing business from all the goods he got from Egypt. There's no fear of God with Lot. There's no fear of the damage the sin could do. There's only the temptation. from the opportunities, the prosperity that await him there in Sodom. As we look at Lot, we should see foolishness, and we know the foolishness gets even more clear later in Scripture. We should fear sin and desire to flee it rather than flirt with it. We should fear sin and desire to flee it rather than flirt with it. Lot chose Sodom for prosperity. As you think about your choices in the business world, as you think about your choices and opportunities, as you think about the decisions you have to make as the head of your household or as a husband, wife, mother, father, or just a single individual who is working. Think about the opportunities you have. Are you drawn to make decisions based upon the prosperity that a decision will bring you? Or are you thinking about the spiritual significance of that opportunity? As you think about another job that may call you to move, are you just enticed with the opportunity to be more prestigious, more prosperous? Or are you thinking about the dangers that may take place, whatever that may be? Are you thinking about the well-being of your family and the dangers that your choices bring about? As we make decisions, There are many gifted men and women in this church. You will have great opportunities before you. Many of us will have opportunities, but we all must be wise in deciding if these opportunities are truly going to build up godliness. Are they going to put our families and ourselves in danger? Our decisions show something about us. I don't think any of us would ever say wealth is more important than godliness. Our money is more important than the gospel. We would never say that with our lips. We know not to say that. But do our decisions demonstrate it? Do the decisions we make and how we spend our time, how we spend our energy, how we spend our brain power, our relational energy, do they demonstrate a desire for prosperity and a desire to claim every opportunity that comes along? Or do they demonstrate a desire for godliness to protect our families? Do your children see modeling wealth is more important than godliness and prosperity more important than the gospel? Are you looking for money and comfort and luxury? Are you looking for the safe spiritual place where your family can grow? Now, money may not be your temptation, so let's think of another example or two. Another way to flirt with danger, another way to flirt with sin. would be a man who sits outside of the gentleman's club. Gentleman's club. He doesn't go in because he thinks that's clearly sin. He won't go in because he knows that's gross. He may even judge the people going in and out, but what he's going to do is stand out there and be entertained and enticed by the option, maybe the idea that someone could come out and he might see something. He's entertaining the thoughts of the sin, not participating in it. Maybe you're entertained by what you think are innocent videos on the Internet. Well, you may not think you're participating in the full depth of gross sin. You're being enticed, entertained by the ideas of sin. You're letting them float there as if you're in control of how far they're going to go. The equal kind of sin for a woman is a woman who dresses provocatively. Without any intention of being with a man. A woman who wants other men to look at her. She's entertained by the idea that other men are looking at her and thinking about her. She has no intention of acting in sin with another man. But she likes the idea of other men looking at her. See, this is why modesty is talked about in Scripture so much. It's not just for the protection of men. It's for your own protection. Modesty is prescribed in Scripture so that you are not tempted to think much of yourself and be enticed, entertained by the idea of sensuality. Now, if you're a wife and you find yourself tempted to dress provocatively with the hope that you might make your husband jealous, stop. That's not going to work. That is not going to bring about the attention desired. If you're a wife and you're saying, my husband doesn't give me the attention I need. Don't dress provocatively. Hoping to either draw his attention that way or hoping to draw his attention by making him jealous. Compliment him. If you want your husband's attention, compliment him. We're very simple creatures. A compliment. Go so much farther than anything you can do provocatively. Talk about what he does good. Build him up. Don't seek to make him jealous. Another way we flirt with sin is by harboring hateful thoughts. Maybe it's someone you work with. Maybe it's a relative. Maybe it's a friend, an old friend. thinking about how they hurt you, thinking about everything wrong with them. What we do is we won't ever call them and yell at them. We won't ever voice our hatred. What we might do is in our own homes, entertain thoughts of how wrong they are and how much they've wronged you and let that fester and grow. See, friends, these are all flirting with sin. We think it's okay because we're not actually acting in sin. We're not participating in any kind of voice or deed. But in our hearts, we're letting ourselves be entertained by the idea of sin. This is dangerous. It's dangerous to draw close to sin and think that you can control its destructive power. It is foolish to think that you know how to allow sin just to nothing. To be entertained by it, but not participate in it. You pull it close to play with it, but it is drawing close. It's not seeking to be played with, it's seeking to destroy. It's seeking to defile, it's seeking to destruct, to destroy anything it touches. Sin is crouching, wanting to destroy us. It's enticing. We have to remember and to see sin as what it truly is, it is seeking to destroy us. If we think we can crack the door and know how weak and think we can control how much is going to come in. We're already overcome by it. Its power has already entangled us. We are too feeble and weak to play with sin. We must flee it. If we look at Psalm 1, we see great instruction from God on this. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. And all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but like chaff, the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment. nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous. The way of the wicked will perish. It doesn't talk about the great Christian who's able to control a sin. It doesn't talk about the Christian who's able to control and just be entertained by sin. No, it's talking about the man of God and the woman of God who delights in God and his truth, not. holding sin at a distance, a safe distance. There's no true thing. There's no truth in the idea that there is a safe distance from sin. Children, this is why your parents protect your eyes and your ears. This is why your parents labor hard, tirelessly, but very tiresomely. to protect you from things that you do not need to see or hear. This is why your parents work hard to keep you in your innocence, in your purity. This is why they labor. They love you. They want to keep you for that day. They want to make sure your innocence is kept. Honor your parents. Appreciate that hard labor they do. Honor them in appreciating it and not trying to go around them. Thank them for the care that they give you. If you're an older child, you now know that it's not safe to touch a hot stove or a hot fireplace. You have the whereabouts to know that when your parents discipline you for the touching of the stove when you're a younger child, you know that was wise. Well, the dangers only get worse and your parents' wisdom is only more necessary for you. As you get older, the complications and the dangers only get worse. The stakes only get higher and you are only in more need to honor and respect them. We all need to hear this. Bad company corrupts good character. That's Paul, 1 Corinthians 15. Bad company corrupts good character. We may think we're mature enough to go into the world, to love sin, to enjoy sin, and just do it enough to not be an unfaithful Christian. That's foolishness. That is what Scripture calls the fool. Friends, if we're going to go to battle, we must hate sin. If we're going to go to battle, we can't see it as enticing, entertaining. We must see it for what it is. It's destructive. If we're going to go to battle, we must do three things, at least these three things. We must think of sin in light of God's attributes. We must think of sin not as something that's enticing and maybe just a little entertaining. We must think of sin in light of God's holiness, His love and His justice. We must see it as a perversion of God's goodness. Not what we were created for. We were not created to enjoy sin. We were created to delight in God's holiness, his love and his justice. Secondly, we are to think of sin in light of the son's work for us on the cross. Our sin is what made it necessary for him to die for us. Our sin is so gross and so corrupt and so evil that the son of God had to die for us. When you're enticed and attempted to sin and think this will be a safe sin, think about the fact that Christ died on the cross for that sin. There's no such thing as a safe sin. Thirdly, think of the sin in light of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. First, we're to think of it in light of God's attributes, his greatness. Secondly, in light of what the Son did for us, and third, think about it in light of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, you are quenching the glory and the love of God within you. You are not exercising the love and the power of God that God has placed within you. You're saying this sin that entices you is more enjoyable than God's spirit himself. Let us be quick to flee from sin and never think it is safe to flirt with it. Friends, now let's look and turn to what we learn about God here. First, God delivers. God delivers of Ron's enemies into his hands. This is what Melchizedek said in his blessing. But there's a greater deliverance that is hinted at in this passage that's going to take a little work because we're going to jump from Genesis 14 in this little introduction to this great character, Melchizedek, and we're going to think about him in light of what all the Scripture says about him, particularly Hebrews 7. There's a great deliverance introduced with Melchizedek. He is greater than Avram and he is even greater than the Levitical priesthood. As we look at Hebrews, we see there are two priesthoods in God's plan. There's a Levitical priesthood. Year after year, priest after priest, they offered sacrifices over and over and over again. There's an ongoing, continual need for sacrifices because no sacrifice that a Levitical priest ever gave completion or perfection to God's righteous wrath against our sin. No Levitical priest could give a sacrifice that actually saved men from their sins. The Levitical priesthood, which is every year a new priest, every year a new sacrifice, is contrasted with Melchizedek, who has no beginning or end, who's the king of righteousness, the king of peace, who is an eternal kind of priesthood. Now, God established the Levitical priesthood. That's his priesthood. It was for a season. But the Levitical priesthood was necessarily flawed. The author of Hebrews points out this flaw. It doesn't complete what it needs to complete. The very fact that every year a new priest had to show up and every year a new sacrifice had to be made, that shows it's incomplete. It's not perfect. There was always a new need for a new sacrifice. There was always more sin and no sacrifice ever completely took away the offense of sin. The sacrifices were all partial in nature. They were more like IOUs. He said, the Israelites, they were saved the same way you and I are saved. They are saved in believing that God has promised that He will make the perfect and final sacrifice, that He will do away with sin, that He will bring righteousness. They saw these sacrifices in the Old Covenant as nothing but images. ways of illustrating the need for a sacrifice, how great our sin is, and that God would finally bring about his salvation. These sacrifices did not completely satisfy God's wrath. Rather, they just pointed to the need for a greater sacrifice. The king priest that God will provide is in the order of Melchizedek. And really what stands out most about Melchizedek is the fact that he has No beginning or end. He has the power of an indestructible life, according to Hebrews 7. Because the Melchizedek introduced in the Old Testament, he has no beginning or end. In the literature, we see that Christ is like him. In fact, he has no beginning or end in his life. You see, the Father sent his Son. His eternal son, the same son that created all of life, the same son that is eternal life in and of himself, the same son who possesses life perfectly, the second person of the Trinity, the eternal son who has no beginning or no end. He has come to be our priest. He's better than any Levitical priest because his service never ends. He's better than any Levitical priest because he now stands in the true holy of holies, not a blueprint version. He now stands in the constant presence of God. He is now the intermediary, the intercessor that doesn't stop representing us to God. He has a life indestructible. He has a life that would not die, would not succumb to the final death. But rose again, showing that he conquered sin and death. He is the Jesus Christ is the perfect priest because he is forever our mediator. He forever stands at the right hand of the father. And we come into the father's presence. He's going to say, this one is mine. He is the perfect priest because he needs no replacement. He is our priest forever. He's also the perfect priest because He offers the perfect sacrifice. It was Himself. The King of Righteousness died for the unrighteous. The King of Righteousness died so that He can bestow upon us His righteousness. This great High Priest offers His own life. The eternal life. He offers Himself on the cross so that in His death, We find hope that God's wrath is satisfied in him. He died as the perfect man so that in his death, God's wrath is satisfied and he then bestows upon us his righteousness. If we believe in him. He offered to God a life without the taint and odor of sin. To be a pleasing sacrifice. to replace our offensive sin. When he offered himself, he declared it is finished. There's no more need for the priest. There's no more need for their sacrifice. This is it. There's no more waiting and wanting to see how God is going to finally bring about all these promises. It is clear it is him, the great priest and the great sacrifice. There's no more need for any regular sacrifice. The one complete sacrifice, the one perfect sacrifice has been offered. There's no more guilt before God. It is finished. When we look to God in His holiness, we no longer fear, but we rejoice because in His mercy, He has taken His wrath out upon His own Son. There's no more fear in death. When we go before the Father, we will not go before Him as sinners. We will go before him clean by the blood of Christ. We'll go before him as sons and daughters adopted into one true son. Friends, God gives us assurance of faith, not in our own works, not in us completing God's work somehow. And there's no work that we do that completes what God accomplished for us on the cross. There's no work that we do that completes the perfect sacrifice. He finished it. He completed it. He perfected it so that we now have confidence to enter into the Holy of Holies as God's children. Not just when you die, but now, even today, even now, as we're about to sing to God, we're entering into his presence through the sun to sing directly into God's ear. As we leave this place, our lives are before God. Our lives are supposed to be met for worship now in the holy of holies of God. We can have assurance of faith that everything we do is seen before God through the lenses of what Christ presents. That is cleansing us of our sin and presenting to him worship. We have confidence in our identity and what God has done for us, we have confidence in God alone. Friends, as we close, We're always longing for some extra hope. Some extra verification or certification that we truly belong to God. Some work that we do. Some declaration from someone else. You don't need a piece of paper. You don't need an external declaration. You need to put your hope in the testimony of Christ alone, who stands at the right hand of the Father. That's where your hope lies. If you have hope in anything else, it is a false hope. Our hope lies in the testimony that we have at the right hand of the Father. And our hope is found in the testimony of the Spirit that points us to Him and says, in Him it is finished. In Him we have peace. These testimonies are what we need to hear. We need to hear it through God's Word. We need to hear it in our prayers. We need to hear it in our fellowship as we experience Christ and the Holy Spirit in one another. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, You are good. You are righteous and You are holy and You are just. And You should punish us in our sin. You should show Your wrath to us for our sin. But you are rich in mercy and love. You allow us to see your beauty. You allow us to see your love. You allow us to see the cross. You allow us to see sin for what it really is. A destructive power. You allow us to see that you are more powerful. Help us all to see how sin, if we try to control it, Have dominion over us. But help us, Lord, to see that if we trust in you, we can participate in your dominion over it. Help us, Lord, to be courageous in our faith in you. Help us, Lord, to be conquerors against the sin that we flirt with. Help us, Lord, to stop flirting and flee that sin and cast it aside. In the name we pray. Amen.