Good morning. Good job. I'm Steve Hawkins. I'm one of the ruling elders here at First Presbyterian and my natural habitat here at the church normally is right back there as some of you know, and I'm You might wonder why am I here today? And I am I've been asked by Pastor Tensley to participate in the service and he's planning to have other ruling elders Participate in coming months. So it's my privilege to do this today Wanted to make a few announcements. First of all You will find the friendship register and your pews and if you could fill that out and pass it down the aisle We can get to know each other and we can have a record of who was here The most important announcement I'm going to make today is for the men in the church As most of you are probably aware next Sunday is Mother's Day and it's going to be your opportunity to Participate in honoring the mothers by singing with our men for the introid to the service at 11 o'clock so What we're asking is any men who would like to join us to please come and participate in a Rehearsal either this coming Wednesday at 720 after the regular choir rehearsal ends or to next Sunday at 10 a.m In the choir room upstairs and Any of you men who have felt moved to sing in the shower or just want to burst out in song We'd really love to have you so I mean we would like a good turnout for this You're going to be singing an arrangement of this little light of mine. It's really it's fun to sing you'll enjoy it
At this point oh the other thing I wanted to mention is that other announcements are on the announcement sheets which are available out in the connector and In the black and white for you and you can get those online very easily at our church website This point I'd like to ask Mary Ellen Locklear to come up and and give us a testimony Good morning as you know volunteering in the name of Christ is often far out of one's comfort zone And this has certainly been my experience Across the past 20 years involvement with choices pregnancy Resource Center formerly known as triple a women's services and much more recently at orchard knob elementary school As part of the good news club team both of these opportunities have stretched my faith and patience and revealed how often I think that I'm capable and Quickly though have to come to realize that it is so not dependent upon My abilities or my talents or even my experiences But it's all about God's power as he moves in the often in the midst of very challenging Circumstances to rescue young babies still in their mother's wombs as well as providing us with Opportunity to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with boys and girls at the end of their school day in Their community volunteering and life of firming God honoring ministries Quickly reveals our dependence on the Lord and our own inadequacies I'm grateful as these Experiences is teach me much about myself and my need to totally rely on Christ to love those who might not be just like me God is so good to continually mature us in our Christian journeys as a retired senior It is exciting to know that I have a place in God's kingdom here a Place of growth and service as I look forward to his return Thank you What a delight. Thank you for sharing your life with us and now I have the privilege of presenting some Bibles to some of our students if you all will make your way up. I think I have George Edwards and Marie Linley Hannah Parker Elizabeth Rogers Campbell Row and Matthew Scruggs now these Students these sons and daughters of the church are Here because they've done some memory work both in God's word as well as in the catechism Do you know we actually are going to use a couple of questions from the shorter catechism today? You might not even need your bulletin although I'll need mine Okay, let me start here with George William Edwards So you're all set. Oh, thank you congregation and then Ann Marie There you go sweetheart Hannah Hey sweetie And there's a bit I was a little concern having Campbell and Matthew down here at the end together, but y'all behaved wonderfully Nice job. Thank you and proud of y'all you can be seated
You know what what a blessing it is to have people in our church who take care of our kids as partners with our parents Somebody like Dana Lail and others of you who help take care of our children so that they have encouragement It's my prayer that every child in Chattanooga will have a mom and a dad who love them Who love the Lord who bring them up in the admonition of scripture and? And Memorizing the documents of the church such a help to us to have the shorter catechism to think our way through the Clearly through God's word and so I pray that you will continue to prepare your hearts for worship I also understand that today is the day when we recognize the seniors who are in our high school groups So I send our greetings out to you from the church. We're proud of you And we send you off in the hope that the Lord will continue to draw you near to him as you Move on to college or on to work or try to squeeze another year of free living out of your parents Whatever it might be Pray you enjoy your life now. Let's prepare our hearts for worship
Privilege of worship being the Lord today. I'd pray we would do so in spirit and truth The mighty one God the Lord speaks and summons the earth from the rising of of the sun to its setting Out of Zion the perfection of beauty God shines forth our God comes he does not keep silence Before him is a devouring fire around him a mighty tempest He calls to the heavens above and to the earth That he may judge his people Gathered to me my faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice The heavens declare his righteousness for God himself his judge Come before you in the name of Jesus Christ the only trustworthy name in heaven and earth We come to worship you Lord for those who Who have cold hearts This morning They either are unconverted or are so complacent in their faith that They're here with a cold heart Lord summer discouraged Summer overwhelmed Some just don't know what to do Oh, would you meet them here in the powerful name of Jesus And Father for those of us who have a small imber burning in our hearts of faith Would you fan that into a blaze that we would worship you and praise you you are our mighty God And so we come to lift our voices to you You're the only one worthy of our worship and our adoration and so we make our morning prayer A prayer of adoration in the name of Jesus And all God's people said together Amen we come to worship you this morning We're here in the name of Jesus We're hoping That you would fall on us in such a way that we would see your glory Lord if you were to reveal too much of your glory to us We would be destroyed Reveal enough Lord that we would see you And that we would worship you We make our prayer in Jesus's name. Amen We're using the Westminster shorter catechism questions 23 and 24 to set our thinking for today's scripture which will lead us in our continuation of a series We've talked about the Lord Jesus Christ as our Redeemer He's our king He's our priest and today we'll talk about the Lord Jesus Christ being our prophet And so while the Westminster shorter catechism isn't equal to scripture. It's subordinate to God's holy scripture It's helpful for us allows us to think more clearly Scripturally about who Jesus is What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer Christ is our Redeemer Executes the offices of a prophet of a priest and of a king Both as in the state of humiliation and exaltation How does Christ execute the office of a prophet Christ executes the office of a prophet In revealing to us by his word and spirit The will of God for our salvation You may be seated this confession of sin is truly an opportunity for the people of God I know sometimes people walk into our church and it's a beautiful church and We have a sense of well everyone here is pretty buttoned up and stodgy and I want to remove all doubt by saying We know ourselves to be sinners and need of our Savior Jesus Christ We come humbly before him We come with a great sense of our need In fact right now if you don't have a great sense of your need for Christ You might humbly ask the Lord to help you Somehow You know a lot about Jesus But you stopped believing it in the moment You have a sense that you don't really need to say a prayer of confession I would pray that we would in the moment confess our sin to the Lord That we would have a sense of his presence and because of his presence We should seek to run away from him Apart from the miraculous and loving work of Jesus Christ And so we have the words of David which will help us express our hearts of confession Have mercy on me, oh God According to your steadfast love According to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions watch me thoroughly Watch me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin For I know my transgressions and my sin has ever before me It's you you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight So that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment In our service these next few moments provide an opportunity for us to humbly Honestly authentically confess our sin to the Lord
Heavenly Father We know only too well that we are sinners We try to acknowledge this by confessing some of our sins But we realize we're only scratching the surface When we become discouraged by the recurring or ever-present sin in our lives We ask that you would reassure us through the words you've given us in scripture Psalm 103 tells us The Lord is merciful and gracious Slow to anger and abounding instead fast love He does not deal with us according to our sins nor repay us according to our iniquities For as high as the heavens are above the earth So great as his steadfast love towards those who fear him As far as the east is from the west So far as he remove our transgressions from us Father, we rest in this assurance We know that it is only possible because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross And now Father, we remember the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray And we will unite our voices in song as we pray it Let us sing together the Lord's prayer
At this point the children can be dismissed and let's greet one another in the name of the Lord
Heavenly Father Maker of heaven and earth Creator of all things We gather together in this place as your people to worship and praise you We stand in awe that you love us with a love that is endless and unimaginably deep Father, the proof of that love was shown to us when you sent your son The word made flesh The one who knew no sin To pay the penalty for our sins by dying a horrible death on the cross And then to rise again in victory Oh Father, what wondrous love Father, we now bring to you our prayers and supplications this morning Prayers for your people here in this local part of the body and those around the world who call upon your name I lift up to you the many people who are on our honor roll They are unable to be here with us in person, but they are here in spirit And they often follow these services on the radio Lord, encourage them and bless them as well as those who care for them and minister to them I pray for those who are struggling right now with illness in some cases life-threatening illness I want to lift up the name of Paul Rech who Has several members of his family with serious illness and he himself is not well Lord, give him your mercy and your peace. I pray for Jason Belcher I lift up the names of Mrs. Lee Ireland and Mrs. Nancy Tatum as they are being treated at Syskin Hospital And Lord, these are only a few of the many people who need your healing touch, need your spirit and your peace to fall upon them I pray for those who are without work that you would give them employment I pray for those who are struggling with relationships or who are struggling emotionally That your favor would be upon them I pray for the various outreach ministries that are springing up in their church May they prosper and bring glory and honor to your name I lift up the pastors and the officers of this church I pray that you would give them wisdom and discernment That you would protect them and their families from the evil one I pray for the men and women who are serving on the mission field both here and abroad That your favor would be upon them as they serve Father, I lift up these prayers to you along with many others that are on the hearts of your people Some too deep for words You know all of them, Father Here are the prayers of your people And now I pray that you would bless the tithes and offerings that will be given this day Use them for your glory I pray this in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Amen I trust that you were able to join Your heart with the voice of our choir in that prayer For his glory and for our good would you please stand for the reading of God's word
Our scripture less than today is found in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18 Deuteronomy 18 and I'll be reading from verses 15 The verse 22 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you From your brothers It is to him you shall listen Just as you desired of the Lord your God at whore upon the day of the assembly when you said Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more lest I die And the Lord said to me they are right and what they have spoken I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers And I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name I myself will require it of him But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name That I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods that same prophet shall die And if you say in your heart how may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord if the word does not come to pass or come true That is a word that the Lord has not spoken The prophet has spoken it presumptuously You need not be afraid of him This is the word of the Lord You may be seated We continue in our series in the book of Deuteronomy From here on we're going to go Rapidly until the end of June to finish the book of Deuteronomy And right now we're in a bit of a mini series in the book of Deuteronomy as as we followed the path of Scripture speaking of Speaking of God in particular the Lord Jesus Christ as prophet priest and king now The Lord has gifted our church with that thinking through his holy scripture and was brought to us by a man who lived a few hundred years ago named John Calvin and Calvin put the the The words are the offices of the Lord Jesus Christ actually in Reverse order in which they come in the scriptures So we've been following along the idea of how the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to us in chapter 17 of Deuteronomy in terms of a priest How he's revealed to us as a king and then in chapter 18? How he's revealed to us as a prophet now this passage is quite pregnant with Jesus Christ If you look at the very first line the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me From among you From your brothers it is to him you shall listen Now for some of us our minds have already raised forward And we're at the transfiguration and at the transfiguration we hear God the Father say This is my beloved son In whom I'm well pleased Listen to him Before I draw the line from the prophet of the Old Testament To the prophet of the New Testament the Lord Jesus Christ himself Let's think a bit about this passage and Moses himself you see Moses had to be called by God A prophet isn't someone who's self-appoints a prophet is one who is appointed by the Lord remember in Exodus chapter 3 at the Bernie Bush When God appeared to Moses Moses was in the desert and he looked over He saw Bush on fire and that that Bush kept kept flaming even though In the desert the bushes are dry brambles and if you light one of those on fire They're going to burn quickly But this kept burning and Moses saw that and he was drawn to it lo and behold it was a manifestation of the Lord himself The great I am the all sufficient self-sufficient God And he called Moses and he told Moses that he's heard the cries of the people And he is going to send Moses to save them He's going to send Moses to stand as an intermediary between those people and their enemies representing God And so God called Moses He called him as a priest he called him as a king he called him as a prophet if you will As he stood before the people you remember they're calling to Moses Moses was honest He was in the moment with the Lord And he said well now wait a minute Lord They're probably not going to believe me I need some help here. I need some sort of a sign. I need something to authenticate my ministry I can't just go marching back into Pharaoh's court Now remember the last time he was in Pharaoh's court things hadn't gone so well Right He had killed a man and he he fled so now he's going back This is a scary moment for Moses So Moses says could you give me a little help could you give me something that would strengthen my faith But not only my faith would would show them that I've been sent from God And so the Lord God said you see that staff in your hand throw it down and he threw it down and it turned into a serpent And it said Moses actually fled now Moses had spent 40 years in the desert I imagine he's seen a snake or two this must have been some kind of serpent And then God tells him to do something that every great snake handler knows not to do You don't pick them up by the tail Right That leaves the business in available, right And so God said pick it up Pick it up by the tail turn back into a staff So this is strengthening Moses. This is giving him the confidence that okay God really is with me. God really is calling me and he sent me apart and he wants me to stand before The people of God and to represent to represent God to them And that indeed is the work of a prophet The work of a prophet is to stand before the people of God and to represent God to the people Now in the Old Testament we had prophets And from those prophets We have the Old Testament and the New Testament we have the Apostles And so we have the completed and all sufficient authority of God's revelation In the Old Testament revealed through the prophets In the New Testament revealed through the Apostles So now we no longer have prophets and Apostles We have preachers We have preachers who stand before the people of God representing God to those people And according to this passage they better pay very close attention and speak the word of God And not speak their own opinion And not necessarily tell people what they want to hear but tell Tell people what God says You notice the measure of a prophet is not the people's response
Because if you work your way through the Old Testament you'll notice they didn't respond very well to God's prophets They didn't respond well at all So the measure of a prophet is not the response of the people whether the response is good or bad The measure of a prophet is whether they speak God's word The measure of an Apostle is that they speak God's word according to the Holy Spirit And the measure of a preacher is similar in the sense that We're to represent God's word We do not have Divine revelation apart from the completion of the Old and New Testament So as the pastor we preach God's word We stand before and when the text says The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you From your brothers. It is to him. You shall listen Well, we better preach that text and so this text is the word of God And it says that the people The people were to be afraid of the prophets not because of the person But because of the person they represent Remember when Samuel went to find David to anoint him and he headed over to the village And it said the elders of the village Came out to greet Samuel and they were trembling in fear Well, why were they trembling in fear? Because this guy represented God He represented the power of God. You remember earlier when Saul didn't didn't kill Agag that Samuel took the sword himself and and cut him up into pieces Because that was God's command So when he showed up in the in their village There there was a fear of him One of the dangers of the American church is we meet the master But we follow the servant It's very typical in American churches for people to too closely Revere and follow their pastor rather than follow God's word Now when we moved here from Dallas, we drove up and we worked our way all the way through Montgomery, Alabama We made it to the border and as we Got off of 59 and slid over to 24 We noticed there's a sign and that sign on the side of the road said Chattanooga And so we parked our car and got out and started to build a house And we started to look for the Hunter Museum and then Well, no, we didn't do that at all. Do we? That was just a sign That was a sign that told us that Chattanooga was coming And we headed on into Chattanooga And there we found the Hunter Museum and the Aquarium and first Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga and eventually a home
The danger in the Old Testament Was that people would more would identify more closely with the prophet
Then with the the Lord God himself The danger of the Old Testament is that people would worship the King David or Solomon Saul instead of worshiping the great God of the King The great danger in the Old Testament was that people begin to depend on the priests for offering sacrifices Rather than looking to the great priest who one day would lay down his life for the people You see as men and women were prone to worship men and women It's wrong It's dangerous It's horrible to make a bit of a Of a personality cult It's quite dangerous in the church We must lean against it We should we should look to meet the master Not follow the servant The servant is only efficacious if he or she is following the master And leading others to the master And so this prophet had a very A very important role in the Old Testament They were to step forward and give the people of God the Word of God Now they were about to enter into the Promised Land And they were going to go in and they were going to have wells they didn't dig They're going to have houses they didn't build They were going to have vineyards they didn't plant And do you know what if you look carefully at the book of Deuteronomy And you think about it and you're present in the text for a while These sermons of Moses are really written by a God Who knows he's going to be a jilted lover
He knows that he loves the people Who are rebellious Hard-hearted people Who will abuse his love and abuse that relationship That when he gives them gifts they are going to love the gift more than they love the giver
And they're going to turn their backs on the God who loves them
And if you go from Deuteronomy through the rest of the Old Testament Where are you going to find you're going to find a people of God God found them When they were destitute God found them when they were such a small people They were such an insignificant people we learned in Deuteronomy 7 And he found them and he loved them And he began to take care of them And he began to bless them And over time when they entered the Promised Land They ended up with property and possessions Which eventually possessed them And they loved those possessions And they loved those things More than they loved the God Who provided them with those blessings And they began to whore about They began to worship false gods And they came under the judgment of God And so what is it that the people are to do When they hear the word of God It says that they are to listen It says it is to him you shall listen Now we know from our past sermons and our study of God's word That the word listen in the Hebrew as well as in the Greek Means not only to hear but it means to hear With the full intent of obedience And so right now you're listening But if you're not listening to the Lord With the full intent of obedience You're already in sin It's the mark of a rebellious person To listen to the word of God Without the intent of obedience And so humbly even at this moment Recognize that God's word is speaking to you Surely he's speaking to you through the foolishness of preaching We know that Paul speaks of this foolishness of preaching I believe that one of the things Paul's referring to when he says the foolishness of preaching Is that you have a sinful preacher Preaching the word of God This glorious magnificent word of God to fellow sinners I know myself to be an adequate vessel I know myself to be a broken clay pot And so I come to you in faith That it's God's word that does the work in our lives It's God's word that does the heavy lifting When we look into the Old Testament surely we do see the Lord Jesus Christ When we see the king we know that the king of the Old Testament came To bring a holiness to to to set the people apart But we also know that he came to a people who were a sinful people So the kings of the Old Testament are along the line of David And David came and ruled among a sinful people But David was only a type of the king of kings who was going to come No one less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself And then when we saw the priest we know that the preach deals in righteousness The priest is the one who sees the people as they are They're guilty and he makes sacrifices on behalf of the people to God They're guilty and those sacrifices Show us and point us forward to the one great high priest The Lord Jesus Christ himself They were manifest in the house of Aaron And then we come to the prophet the prophet is dealing with an ignorant people A people who don't know a people whose minds are darkened And so the prophet comes and he gives them knowledge The prophet speaks and they hear he gives them knowledge And this is of course modeled in the Old Testament by Moses and the prophets And he speaks the word of God and what's the word of God Or should I say who is the word of God And the word became flesh And dwelt among us The word of God is nothing or no one less Than the Lord Jesus Christ himself And the Lord Jesus Christ came and manifest for us the true knowledge and character of God And so when we look at this prophet priest and king of the Old Testament Fulfill by Christ in the New Testament It gives us the mark of an authentic church An authentic church is a church where the faithful preaching of God's word takes place The prophetic role of Christ The church is where the the sacraments are rightly administered The work of the priests and Completed by the Lord Jesus Christ himself And then the work of the king is that a church has the exercise of proper discipline And so those are the mark of the church If you attend a church that does not have those three marks of Faithfully preaching God's word rightly administering the sacraments And the proper exercise of discipline it It's not a biblical church You need to walk away from that church You need to go to a church that seeks to embody in the power of the spirit The reality of Christ's ministry manifest in those areas And so we come to the idea that this prophet is really the prophet This prophet is no one less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself You know over the years of walking with Christ I came to faith in Christ in 1975 And I always wanted to know the deeper truths What are the deepest truths of the Bible I think part of my own sin pattern is a pattern of performance I grew up in an extremely dysfunctional home And a home where many in many ways I was left to raise myself in some ways I'm sure my mother and father were still alive They would roll their eyes just a little bit at that statement And say well we did the little bit to help your boy But at some point you reach a stage where you recognize your mom and dad are so busy with your older brother Brothers who were heroin addicts that they don't have a lot of time for the kid who's kind of Going to school and not getting arrested and So I fell into a bit of a performance trap as a non-believer And the performance trap manifests itself in school and in sports And I brought that same performance track to My conversion to Christ I felt like as a baby Christian I wanted to do so many things to make sure God loved me and that he liked me And so I sought to perform for him to be for him what I thought he wanted me to be And the Lord had to had to over the years ripped some of that out of me So that I would rest in the performance of My Lord Jesus Christ rather than in my own work and one of the ways he did that is he revealed to me Through his word that the deepest truth of God's word is that we were made to know God We're made to know him And so God sent a prophet to his people So that they could know God and the knowledge of God is something that allows us to see the glory of God The a few scriptures that You might recognize from the gospel of John Jesus says so that they may see my glory This is Christ's greatest satisfaction that we would see his glory John 175 father glorify me with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was So here's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking in his incarnate flesh speaking of the glory. He possessed before creation And as we know God God's glory is manifest to us I prayed earlier are I spoke earlier about the idea that God has to be And forgive me if this sounds a bit blasphemous, but God has to be very careful when he manifests his glory to his people Because if he were to manifest too much of his glory to us right now We would be destroyed There's no way we could stand in the presence of God's glory in its fullest form In fact when we die or when Jesus returns that's why we're given a spiritual body We have to have a body and a spirit that is able to endure and even appreciate the glory of God And so as God manifests his glory to us here through his word My prayers that he manifests enough so that we could see him and worship him But in order to do that We need to listen to him We need to hear his voice I mean not only need to hear his voice We need to hear his voice with the intent of obedience so that we move to action We get involved in places like the Choices Predelection Center We go to orchard knob to help tutor the children We get involved in the salvation army We do first friends and boom boom boom boom boom I could go through a long list that that you're doing You're the ministers of our city You're the ministers of our city God has called you To see his glory and to know him And then to be manifestations of his glory wherever you go At work At home In fact, there are some implications to knowing God Galatians 4-8 says formally when you did not know God You were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods So the knowledge of God actually moves us from being enslaved to false gods To worshiping the one true God Galatians 4-9 but now that you've come to know God Or rather to be known by God How can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world Who slaves It's it's almost like he can barely bring himself to say these words Who slaves you want to be once more He said once you know God you're no longer a slave He goes on to say In Titus 116 They profess to know God But they deny him by their works What what's going on here in the New Testament If you start with the prophetic work of the Old Testament That is fulfilled in Christ remember and John those passages in John where where they say here's the one true prophet Here he is Let me just let's just look at those for a moment I want to make sure you see this connection to Christ before I move us to application Look at John chapter 1 verse 45 John 145 Philip found Nathaniel and said to him we've found him of whom Moses in the law and also The prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph you see Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophetic work Of Moses and then in John chapter 6 verse 14 Jesus has just fed the 5,000 when the people saw the sign that he had done They said this indeed is the prophet Who is to come into the world you see when God opened their eyes and knowledge They saw that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament in fact He incarnated the fulfillment when he became a man But then Paul applies this text and he says things like they profess to know God But they deny him By their works they are detestable disobedient unfit for any good works now what happens in the church Is that we make professions that we believe in Jesus but we live a pagan lifestyle And the struggle with us when we come to church if we're honest with ourselves is we constantly are trying to answer the question Lord am I really saved or am I really a pagan? I mean if people went house-to-house-to-house-to-house in my neighborhood and they met every family would I stand out as someone who's different Because I've been redeemed by my prophet precincting Jesus Do I live differently? Is there a substantive tangible difference in the life of a redeemed believer and a pagan? Paul says yes Paul says of course there is if you know God you live differently He harkens back to the proverb as a man thinks in his heart So he is As we know ourselves to be redeemed As we've had God's word revealed to us we live different lives We live lives of good works Because of what Christ has done for us
Now I believe in the church we've been very careful about good works in the Presbyterian church and well we should Many churches have equated good works with an obligation of God to forgive you Hey, I did this God so you need to forgive me. I'm earning my way to heaven. I'm working hard. I'm diligent Right, I'm here in church. Give me a check mark. I had dinner with the preacher. I didn't cost so that's a good one Right the idea that we're earning our way to heaven No No We're saved by the all-sufficient work of Christ, but I believe where we've where we've made it errors Is that we don't realize that the natural outworking or let me say it this way the super natural outworking Of a person who knows and worships God who sees his glory is that we do good works We serve the Lord we live differently And so I ask you Do you live differently than the average pagan no where you spend your money or you spend your time Now some of you went are you in your brain you're thinking preacher you went from Theological thinking to meddling pretty fast in that sermon Unless Unless you mistake or unless you mistake these words for legalism Let me close with the story. I have six children along with my wife Laura and we have four grandchildren We talk to them all the time You know At the vast majority of our babies live in Texas And so we miss them Recently I was having a conversation with one of my daughters who lives in Texas and We're talking we're just enjoying each other and I usually ask her a few questions You know, hey, you know Sarah Sarah you've been married a year and a half now How's it going? What are your disappointments Sure husband reading the word to you Is he washing you with the word each day? Does he pray for you? You've been married 18 months. Are you starting to think about grandkids? no pressure My daughter Sarah used to work in oil and gas business which was Going and blowing she left at the work in the church. She actually took a job in In our old church in Dallas. So I say honey. How's it going? You know in the secular work world You're used to running into people who act like jerks What's it like when it happens in the church Are you okay? Are you disappointed? Is your skin getting thick without your heart getting hard? We talk and sometimes she asks me for stuff You know Okay, I realize you have a flat tire Huh So I'm thinking what am I gonna do? I've got a lot more money than she does so she knows I'll just buy her tire, right. I mean kind of a daddy daughter's work But she doesn't ask me stuff all the time she just talks to me And I talk to her We have a real authentic restful meaningful relationship She's my daughter She doesn't have to do anything just Is being my daughter We just enjoy each other So one of the things I found in my life Is that I don't feel that way with the Lord all the time In fact, I don't feel that way with the Lord as much as I really want to feel that way with the Lord I know him But there are many times I'm not resting in him There are many there are many times I don't sit down with my dad on the phone called prayer And just enjoy him Say hi dad How's it going Yes, I need help I need Lord I need you to do this and this and this and this for me But but you know father I also just just want to enjoy you I just want to soak in the reality of being being your son You've revealed that to me. I know you And so I want us as a congregation and as a people of God to think about our relationship of God The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed our prophet our priest and our king His all sufficient work is our salvation He's responsible to gather us home to himself in heaven one day and he will And he will Until then We manifest the reality of his kingdom in our in our lives In our homes with our roommates at college With our our wives our children our co-workers I want us as a church to enjoy The presence of God the way a child and a parent Enjoys that unbreakable inseparable loving relationship That God would do that for us That we would enjoy him Many times when I kneel in prayer in my office I feel like I'm going through the motions I say the right words But sometimes I wonder if I mean them
Maybe there are a few of you who can identify with that Actually Honestly Each and every one of us can identify with that Because we're finite fallen sinners who serve a great God And do you know what He's allowed us to know him Through the miraculous Converting work of his Holy Spirit And we know him because he's revealed himself to us
If you've heard his voice today And you know him Follow him Don't follow the servant Follow the master He's the lover of your soul Let's pray together So Father now we come before you And we say a prayer I know Lord for some of us we We don't want to move from these from these seats right now We're just going to enjoy you We want to we want to thank you for the confidence that it gives us to go into the Old Testament and see words like profit Priest king and then see them manifest and fulfilled through the very life of Jesus Christ Lord that That's strengthens our faith that that's just pours That pours knowledge into our soul that allows us to to stand Say yes, I do believe yes, I do yes, I do
And yet Lord we also know our lives are lacking Some of us Lord are not serving you in in meaningful ways for your kingdom We're soaking And we could probably test a we could probably pass the test on Biblical theology But if our lives were weighed in terms of Our grace driven good works we would be weighed and found wanting So Father with the security of knowing you as our prophet priest and king through the Lord Jesus Christ our Redeemer I pray yet you would continue to lose us lose us at home lose us on our city But most of all Lord lose us when we're kneeling or sitting quietly with you Enjoying the presence of God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit We love you Lord and we look forward to the day of your return until then continue to reveal yourself to us We need you Lord We're desperate for you And we're so thankful that you love us so much that you would give your son for us So we rest in you and we make our prayer in the name of our prophet priest and king Jesus Christ And all God's people said together Amen Would you please stand for the benediction? I Hope you're resting in the Lord at this moment And I want you to hear these good words from numbers That God gave to Moses to speak over his people so Even though he knew they would they would walk away from him He spoke these good words over them to encourage them of his faithfulness And now may the Lord bless you and keep you May the Lord cause his face to shine upon you. Be gracious to you May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you. Give you peace both now and in the life everlasting. Amen