Who Needs the Word of God?

All right, we got a bonus hour last night thanks to Daylight Savings. We can do a little better than that. Good morning. Good morning. All right, very good. We have a long text, and my throat may give out before the text does, so we'll see how that goes. As we consider this text, and we're actually looking at 1 Samuel 4 all the way through chapter 7, verse 2, I wanted to ask, to kind of get us ready to think about what the text is speaking to, what attracts you this morning? What attracts you? What draws you near with very little effort? Like the fly to the light. What's easy for you to commit to, for you to do that, what requires little effort or thought process? Maybe even more important, what repels you? What do you try to keep away from? Right? What kind of person? What kind of event? You know, it's always interesting when I introduce myself and I tell someone I'm a pastor, one of the common responses is them trying to get away from me as soon as possible. It's always fun to watch to see how that works out. But there are certain things or people or events we try to stay away from. This morning, we're looking at Israel and the Philistines and their either attraction or trying to get away from God. Today, the simple message is this. If you're taking notes, this is the simple, basic message. Draw near to God by faith. Draw near to God by faith. That is the invitation. That is God's desire. That you would come to Him as He has made Himself known, as He has told you how to come to Him. That is something that's very unique about Christianity. God says, I have come to you, now you come to Me. I have made a way for you to know Me personally. But you have to do so by faith, which means you follow His instruction. Now if we're to look at this entire text, what would stand out is that no one draws near to God by faith. This entire text is a warning on what not to do. The entire text is example after example after example of the people of God, Israel, or the nations of God, the Philistines, not drawing near to God by faith. They actually all push them away. They want to keep their distance. They want to have a safe distance from God. That is not what God has created us for. That is not what God has saved us for. He calls us to draw near. If you're just entering 1 Samuel with us, if you flip back to 1 Samuel 1, we were introduced to Hannah. She was burdened without a child. She prayed. She received that child. That is Samuel. And then we see Samuel is contrasted regularly with Eli and his worthless sons. By worthless we mean they were the priests of God and they were stealing from God's sacrifices. And God warns Eli, God warns the sons, they do not listen. Therefore God says you will be judged. They will die on the same day. Samuel, in chapter three, is called by God to be the prophet so that he would give the word of God. And if you heard there, chapter four, verse one, gives a simple summary statement. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. God is good, he wants to be known, he has given us the Israel, the prophet here, so that his people will know his word. Now flip over to chapter seven, verse two, or verse three. What is that word of Samuel? Look at chapter 7 verse 3. We now hear what the word of Samuel is. And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, if you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Asheroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only. And he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Simple summary statement. Chapter 4, verse 1. Chapter 7, verse 3. There's a bookending. The word of Samuel went out. This is what the word of Samuel was. Put away your false gods. Serve the one true God only. That's a good message. Well, we're going to look at everything that happens between there as one unit, because I think that's what Samuel wants us to do. That's what God wants us to do. And it's all connected. The ark just keeps moving around. The ark of God, the representation of his presence. And so we're going to begin in chapter four, verse two. And here's the basic question I'm pressing on the text. Who needs the word of the Lord? Who needs the word of the Lord? The first group that needs the word of the Lord, the superstitious, the superstitious. who needs the word of the Lord, the superstitious. We just heard Jocelyn read this section, or the first part there of chapter four. Israel, they've gone out to fight the Philistines. Chapter two, 4,000 have died. We see they're losing the battle, and so they gather together, and they notice that they recognize the Lord is against us. That's why we're not winning. So they've diagnosed the problem correctly. We're losing 4,000 men die. What do we do now is the key question. And they decide, let's take the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and let's take it out to battle with us. Now, notice what they don't do at any point. They don't pray. They don't ask the Lord for guidance. They simply gather themselves, they see the Ark of the Lord as a symbol of God's presence, and they say, let's take it out. And notice what it says, verse three here. Let us bring in the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, that it, that is the Ark, that it may come among us, that it may save. They're using the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord as kind of like a lucky charm. Let's take this symbol, let's take this thing that God's given us, and let's put it in the midst of us, and just like Israel was able to defeat enemies before, it will give us victory. Now, let's pause and ask a quick question. What is the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord? Most of us know what the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is because we saw Indiana Jones. It's kind of an odd movie. An archaeologist fights against Nazis who have taken the grand symbol of Judaism in order to wield it and its power for their own victory. And they actually accomplish it. The archaeologist has nothing to do, Indiana Jones has nothing to do with the actual end of the movie. God's glory melts the Nazis' faces off. I bring that up because what the Nazis in Indiana Jones want to do with the Ark of the Covenant is just like what Israel is doing. Let's take the symbol of God. If it's in our presence, we can wield its power, and it will help us have victory over enemies. It's like a good luck charm. Well, where did the Ark of the Covenant really come from? When Moses, after they had been delivered from Egypt, they had crossed the Red Sea, God had delivered them with his mighty right hand, Moses goes up on Mount Sinai and God's giving Israel instruction for worship. And one of the things that God instructs is the Ark of the Covenant, where the two tablets of Moses and the staff of Moses would go and it would be a symbol in the midst of Israel, and it's very clear, it's a symbol to be in the midst of Israel so they could see and know God is with us, God is for us. It symbolizes His presence. The ark is a gift. Now remember, what is Israel doing while God is giving instruction on Mount Sinai? Only Moses is on top of Mount Sinai receiving the instruction. What's the rest of Israel doing? They're building a golden calf. and giving that calf, that work of their own hands, credit for delivering them from Egypt. God is constantly trying to correct his people from serving other gods. And here we see the problem has still not been corrected all the way up into 1 Samuel, hundreds of years later. We see here, I believe, what could be described as superstition. if we just do the right thing the right way. Really, it's beyond superstition. This is just practical paganism. If I just manipulate the gods, if I just have what the gods really like, if I do the things that I think the gods want me to do, then they're going to give me what I want. There's no stopping. There's no praying. There's no seeking the Lord. There's a danger here that I believe is a warning for us. How, how might we take the things of the Lord and, and misuse them? I want to try to be as, as, as clear as possible because today we have the Lord's Supper. The ordinances of God are His symbols. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are God's symbols that are supposed to take place in God's assembly to remind us, by faith, we can draw near to God. But how often do we treat them as something less than what God has given? I've heard people say, no, I'm good. I can keep sinning. I was baptized. I know I'm saved. I was baptized. That's superstitious. That's thinking somehow some act you did at some other time is actually enough to save you. That's boasting. No, baptism and the Lord's Supper are activities that we partake in together by faith because God has said they're good and they build up our faith. We're no different than Israel in many ways. Verse 5, the Israelites, they have the ark. And they start to howl. They start to cheer. Israel, they've been defeated. They've lost 4,000. The ark shows up, and they start cheering to the point where the Philistines hear them. And the Philistines, they say, what's happening? Oh no, the ark of the Lord is in their presence. And look at what they say, verse 7. A god has come into the camp. Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us, who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness." Now let's just pause here and appreciate what God intended to do in the Exodus has actually taken effect at some level. All those plagues, all the mighty deliverance, the crushing of Egypt was so that the nations would hear of His name and fear, so that when Israel actually was obedient, they would come to Israel and see the one true God. His fame has spread, but Israel has not been the right kind of instrument. The remembering, that ark represents that God, or those gods, because they're pagans, that struck the Egyptians. What should we do? Okay, again, right diagnosis, wrong prescription. Notice what they say they're gonna do. Verse nine, take courage and be men. Now I'd love to go on a long rant about what it means to be a man, but that's not what the text wants us to do. Oh, Philistines, lest ye become slaves. They're gonna defeat us, so let's be men and fight. Let's hunker down and fight out of fear for our own lives. What happens next is interesting. The Philistines win. But here's the question. Who did the Philistines defeat? They're afraid that the God of the Israelites, the gods of the Israelites would beat them, but who did the Philistines really defeat? They beat Israel. They bid Israel that does not have God, that God is not with them, God is not for them, God has left them to their own strength, and Israel without Yahweh is hopeless. As we just consider this text and move on, because we've got a lot of text to cover, there's a warning here about how we approach God and seek to use Him rather than obey Him. There's a way in which we can be like Israel and say let's just take the things God's given us and let's use them the way we want to rather than stopping, praying, seeking His wisdom so that He would help us in the right way. Who needs the Word of the Lord? First, the superstitious. Second, I like with us the shameful. The shameful. The Philistines fought. They take the Ark of the Lord. There's two men who are with the Ark when it's taken. The two sons of Eli. And just as God promised Eli and warned him, your sons will die on the same day. Notice the man who comes back, the Benjaminite in verse 12. He ran and he came from Shiloh, verse 13, verse 12. Verse 13, he came into the city. Verse 14, he came and told Eli. Then he declares, I am the one who has come. There's a great Hebrew unity to this whole story. This man is coming to bear news. Eli's eyes have grown blind. That might represent his spiritual state. He was a large man. He was a weighty man. And as we looked at a couple weeks ago, heavy is the same word for glory. He's a man who's been so consumed with his own glory, God is, is punishing him and his sons for stealing from the sacrifices. And when Eli heard that the ark of the Lord had been taken, he fell over and broke his neck. And he died, just as God said. He had judged Israel for 40 years. Now it goes further. The daughter-in-law of Eli, the wife of Phinehas, she was pregnant. She gives birth. And she names her son Ichabod. Which just literally means no glory. She gives an interpretation of the why she names him no glory. The glory has departed from Israel. God has abandoned his people. Now, let's be very clear. God warned Eli. God warned his sons. God warned them, and warned them, and warned them. And here, because they would not stop their shameful, inglorious ways, God has given them over to their sin. Who needs to hear the Word of the Lord? Let's go back to what the Word of the Lord was from Samuel. Chapter 7, verse 3. Return to the Lord with all your heart. Put away the foreign gods and the Asher from among you. Direct your heart to the Lord and serve Him alone, and He will deliver you. These men who were supposed to be leading Israel in worship, they're forsaking God, and they're leading Israel in the wrong direction. He's a good God who wants His people to know Him, and so He's removing them so that He can put Samuel in place to proclaim the truth. So what happens in the Ark next? Our third people who need to hear the Word of the Lord. The unholy. This is the Philistines. So everything that's happened so far has been really focused on Israel. They're being defeated. They take the Ark of the Lord. Eli dies. His sons die. The glory of the Lord prophetically has departed from Israel. Notice what happens next. Chapter five, verse one. And the Philistines captured the Ark of the Lord. They brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. There's two main places of worship for the Philistines. One is Gaza. Samson has already destroyed that great temple of Dagon. The other one is Ashdod. The Philistines took the Ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Dagon. Behold, Dagon had fallen. And the people of Ashdod rose early the next day. And behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. Now, the Philistines are pagans. They believe in multiple gods. And so they do what only they would do. The more the merrier. The more gods you have, the better. Let's play it safe, and let's just add this god, this representation of God, to our own gods, and we'll have more blessing, and we'll have the greatness of multiple gods in our own temple that will give us what we want. Well, Dagon, he is a merman, a man-fish. He's a fertility god, as most gods are. He's known especially there on the coast, which is where Ashdod is, so this makes perfect sense. And what's interesting, the Philistines believe they're, they're putting gods together to get more blessing. But what happens? Dagon falls downward. And, and this is intentionally humorous and, and kind of odd. They had to pick their god up. This is like Isaiah 44. You take a tree and you cut it down, and part of that tree you take and you use as wood to cook some meat for yourself, and the other half you carve something out of it and you bow down and worship it. Here, not only have they gone into the insanity of worshiping that which is created, that which is actually created less than them because they're made in the image of God, They, they have to pick their God up. It's at that moment you really should think some good self-reflection takes place. Maybe we're wrong. Maybe, maybe we've got this whole idol worship and, and, and, and how it all works together. How, how, how the world was created. Who God is. Maybe it's, maybe it's all wrong. We can laugh at them, but I kind of want to just make sure we understand we are still going to like them. I'm going to hope that no one here has something carved out of material on their mantle that they bow down and worship. But we are idolaters. We do all have that predisposition to worship that which is not God. And in our society, that which is not God that we most often worship is ourself. How I feel. What I desire. There's a tendency among all of us, and this is a universal human problem, to not look up to the one God and listen and worship Him. There's a desire to take things into our own control. Here we see things are out of control. Their God has gone face forward. We actually see it gets worse. They rose early the next morning, verse 4, and He's fallen face down again, and the head and both of His hands were cut off. Only the trunk was left. And they never set foot on the threshold again. Here we see how twisted our hearts can be. That, that, that we, we continue to go after the same gods. And we'll talk about that a little bit more in a moment. He's destroyed. Yahweh, the God of Israel, has, has destroyed Dagon. And, and there, it should be clear, we're going to repent now. We're going to, we're going to, we're going to set aside Dagon, and we're going to, we're going to pursue this God of Israel is. Notice how much more clearly God makes himself known, verses six to 12, and I want you to hear for some repeated words. In verse six, you're gonna hear the hand of the Lord was heavy. In verse seven, you're gonna hear the hand is hard. Verse nine, the hand of the Lord was against the city. Verse 11, the hand of God was very heavy. God's hand is against the Philistines. the hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod. And he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And the men of Ashdod saw things, saw how things were. They said, the ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our God. So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? They answered, let the ark of God of Israel be brought around to Gath. So they brought the ark of the Lord of Israel there. But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic. And he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out. They have brought around to us the ark of God of Israel to kill us and our people. They sit therefore and gather together all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its own place. Then it may not kill us and our people. For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. The men who did not die were struck with tumors. The cry of the city went up to heaven. The ark is the presence of God and, and notice it, it keeps getting pushed. Ashdod, to Gath, to Ekron. It's, it's, it's, it's get, get away! The hand of the Lord was heavy wherever it was. The Philistines, they're, they're under punishment. Now let's be very clear. Israel right now, with the Ark of God gone, they're under God's discipline. He is disciplining those He loves. He's helping them see their need of Him, His grace, His power, and His presence. The Philistines are not being disciplined out of love. They're being punished because they are an unholy people. The ark doesn't belong there. The Philistines are feeling one of the most important problems we have to realize this morning. It's the presence problem. They're feeling fully the presence problem. Sin and sinners cannot be in the presence of a holy God. This, this heavy hand. The, the, the, the tumors, the plagues, the, the, the God's getting crushed. This is God bringing about His punishment. And it's the, if we look at the big picture, it's this. It's a problem we all have to think about. There's a presence problem. God cannot be in the presence of sin. It's important to recognize that because we're all sinners. We're all going to have to come face to face with God, and we're going to have to ask, how am I going to be in the presence of God? How am I going to stand before God if I, as a sinner, am going to have punishment if I'm in His presence? This is what the Philistines are feeling, and they keep trying to push God away. Now, I want to, I want to, I want to pause, and I want to think about something very clearly. Verse 6 of chapter 6. When they gather, they, they say, let's, let's, let's send it back to Israel. Let's take some, some, some cows. We'll put it on a cart. We'll make five golden mice, five golden tumors. They treat Israel's God like their gods, or like themselves, because they've made God in their own image. Tetra 6 verse 6 is very interesting. Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? Again, that grand Exodus salvation has gone out And it's actually gone out as a warning. They should realize this is the one true God. But, but here's the problem. Their solution is this. Get rid of God. Push Him away. Push Him away. Push Him away. He's not a God that we made with our own hands. We don't get to control Him like Dagon. There's something He's doing that's beyond our control. So our solution is get a safe distance from that holy God. What's sad here is they partially get it. God is holy, and He is just, and He is powerful, and He's worthy of worship, but what their solution is, is let's get away. How different the story would be if they said instead of let's get away from this God, let's destroy these false gods. The defense mechanism is, let's get away from the one holy God who is truly and clearly punishing us. Why not forsake the other gods and worship Him? Today, if you're not a Christian, the message is very clear. We cannot stand in the holy presence of God by ourselves. sinners. God's judgment will be upon us in a way that's greater than these tumors and afflictions and, and God's heads falling off. God knows our problem. This is why He cast us out of the garden. That was an act of grace. When He cast Adam and Eve out of the garden, it was an act of grace because our sin could not be in the presence of His holiness and, and not be consumed with punishment. But this is what's so clear about the God who does punish sin. God the Father, He sent His own Son to become like us in every way, Jesus Christ. He was the perfect man. He was the God who became man for us, and He died on the cross so that He would stand in the presence of God and be punished as if for our sin. So that now, When we, if we believe in Jesus, come before God, we're not afraid of punishment because Christ has paid the penalty for our sin. He has died on the cross, He's risen again, He's at the right hand of the Father, and He now mediates. He is the only cure for this problem. One day, we will all die, we will all face God, we will all be in His presence, and if we're there by ourselves in our sin, we will be punished. But there's one who says, I will stand with you. It's Jesus Christ, who died for your sins, who rose again. Your only hope is to believe in Him, and then He stands with you, and He says, Father, this one is mine. I've already paid the penalty. If you're not a Christian, that's the message for you this morning. God's hand is heavy against you. But God has also sent his son to die for you. Believe in him and receive his grace, his love, and his blessing. Look at verse nine with me. They've got this grand plan. We're going to send the ark back. We're going to give gifts. We're going to get rid of this thing like a hot potato. We got to we got to get away. Look at verse nine. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth Shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm. But if not, then we shall know that is not his hand that struck us. It happened to us by coincidence. I think one of the most terrifying things about our mythical religions that we all create and believe in is how insecure they are. Why are they so insecure about what they need to do and what should happen? It's because their God doesn't speak. Their God's a piece of wood. Their God is now a dead piece of wood that they've chopped down and carved. Brother, sister, non-Christian, hear the one thing this morning. God speaks so that we do not have to be confused about what's wrong and what the solution is. They're acting and they're admitting this is the pagan way. Let's just keep trying and see what works. Let's just keep trying and see if this is actually a real solution. God does not want us to live in that kind of confusion. He's given us His Word. And it's clear. Our problem is our sin. The solution alone is Jesus Christ. There is no lack of clarity, and there should be no lack of confusion. God has spoken so that we can know who He is with great confidence. It's terrifying to think about the life that understands the punishment of God and the holiness of God, but not the real solution. Praise God He has spoken so that we can know the solution. The solution for these Philistines should be turn away from the lie, turn towards the truth. Stop pushing Him away. Stop trying to protect yourself and seek Him who alone can protect you. Finally, the last group that we're going to see who needs the word of the Lord. We've seen the superstitious. We've seen the shameful. We've seen the unholy. That is the Philistine nations. Finally, it's the irreverent. Verse 10. And the men did so. That is the Philistines. They took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. Because calves would have followed their mothers. And they put the ark of the Lord in the cart and the box With the gifts, the gold mice and the images of their tumors and the cows went straight in the direction of Beth Shemesh. Along one highway lowing as they went and turned neither to the right nor the left and the lords of the Philistines went away after them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh. Now the people of Beth Shemesh, which are Israelites, they were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw the Ark. They rejoiced to see it. Now this sounds like the story is turning in the right direction. God's Ark is now returning to the people. The people see it. They rejoice. Verse 14, the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. They split up the wood of the cart. They offered the cows as a burnt offering. The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. The men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices on the day of the Lord. When the five lords of Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron. Okay, the exchange has been made, the sacrifice is done. Beshemesh is a Levitical city. There's Levites there. They know what to do. Now, something that's kind of odd. You're not supposed to sacrifice female cows, but okay, we might think in this circumstance they're just going to rejoice and assume God has blessed them with this situation to receive the ark back. Verse 17 and 18 are a summary of what has happened with the giving of the gifts and the different lords. Verse 19. And God struck some of the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck 70 of them. And the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. They are not even supposed to look at it, so the Levites should have covered it. But it actually, the way this reads is they looked inside of it. They have no reverence for the holiness of God. They have no sense of the boundaries that God has put on his people, and that you're not supposed to look into his glory. Remember Exodus 33. What was Moses' request? I want to see your glory. God said, no, you cannot see my glory. that the people, they worship from a distance. But here, maybe out of just an eager zeal because the Lord has brought back, maybe it's out of curiosity, we have no idea. We just know God has punished these people in this place for overstepping boundaries regarding His holiness. Verse 20, the men of Beth Shemesh said, who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God, and to whom shall we go away from us? So they sent the messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-Jerim, saying, the Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you. And the men of Kiriath-Jerim came and took up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the Lord. From that day, the ark was lodged at Kiriath-Jerim. A long time passed, some 20 years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. The ark represents God's personal, powerful presence. They were right to rejoice that it had come back. They were wrong to think they just could do with it whatever they wanted. And notice now what the Israelites are doing in Beth Shemesh. The same thing the Philistines did. Push it away. We're now afraid of God. They don't consider repenting. They don't consider seeking the Lord. They don't consider actually asking, what have we done wrong? How can we repent of our pagan ways? How can we serve the one true God according to His Word? Push them away. And Kareth, Jerem, this is like putting the Ark of the Lord in self-storage. It's not functional anymore. It's not serving its purpose in the temple among the people to remind them anymore. It's putting it far away, out of sight, out of mind for 20 years until David goes and gets it. Let's go back to verse 20 because they actually do ask a good question. Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? The answer is there's only one. It's not me, it's not you, it's not Moses, it's not Joshua, it's not Samuel, definitely not Eli and Phinehas. There's only one who can stand before the Lord. the one who left the Father's bosom to begin with. It's Jesus Christ, God's own Son, who came and took on flesh, and is the perfect righteous man. He alone stands before the Lord, this holy God. And what's incredible, when we truly think about that He alone can stand before the Lord, is that He was sent so that He could help us stand. But we only stand when we stand with Him. God is holy. He's perfectly just. And, and we should be terrified, but, but this is the invitation God says. Draw near to me. Draw near to me. God does not want our sin to continue to keep us from His presence. That's why Jesus died. So we think about the Lord's Supper here. It's a perfect just picture. We shall be terrified of partaking in the symbols of Christ's blood. And the, the, the symbols of, of His body broken. The Holy One. But we do so by faith. Because He, His blood was poured. His, His body was broken so that He could say, come with me. and I will lead you into my Father's presence. Come with me. I'm preparing a place for you. Come in my name to the Father and make every request of yours known, and I will stand with you. I, Jesus Christ says, am the one who can stand before this holy God, and I let you stand with me. If you're not a Christian, this is the only way you're going to stand before the Lord. If you are a Christian, boldly enter the presence of God. There's some who are afraid to take the Lord's Supper out of a superstition or out of a fear. There's a couple ways that we do misrepresent this. There's a couple ways in which we've got to really realize the Lord's Supper says a couple trues to us. One, we come with confidence that when we confess our sins, we're forgiven. And that's why we partake with confidence. We confess our sin. Now we don't confess our sin planning to do it again. Confessing sin means we come, we acknowledge it's wrong, we acknowledge Christ's death, covers that sin, takes away that sin, and that I want the grace to stop committing that sin. So sin shouldn't keep you from partaking in the Lord's Supper when we actually consider what it truly is and what Christ has done. Second thing is this. This represents forgiveness. Our lack of forgiveness may keep us from participating in the Lord's Supper. Our inability to forgive that sin against us. This is why it's such a powerful message. When we consider how much God has forgiven us, how can we not express and give that same kind of forgiveness? The two ways you can hinder, not enjoy the Lord's Supper is by either embracing sin or not embracing forgiveness. Christ's invitation is clear. Draw near to me, I will forgive you. Draw near to me, I will give you the grace to fight your sin. Draw near to me, I will give you the grace to forgive. The clear message this morning is draw near to God in Christ. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you do not leave us confused about who you are, what you do, and what you expect of us. Thank You, Lord, for the picture that's before us in the Lord's Supper, that Christ came to be crushed for our iniquity, that His blood was poured out to wash us and renew us and regenerate us. Lord, help our unbelief. Help us, Lord, to see that Your grace abounds where our sin abounds. Help us, Lord, to see that Your grace abounds so that we can forgive others of their sin. Help us to come before You. to draw near with confidence in Christ because of what He's done for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.