Direct Access

We no longer need an earthly middleman to know and hear from God. Jesus is our Great High Priest who knows our weakness, understands our temptations, and lives forever as the ultimate and final mediator between God and man. Through his perfect sacrifice on the cross, we were given direct access to the presence of God and can draw near with confidence to his throne of grace.

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If you have your Bibles, you can open to Hebrews chapter five. We've been studying through the book of Hebrews today. We're going to be kind of bouncing around a little into chapter four, chapter five, some of chapter seven, maybe a little bit of chapter six, you know, just whatever we're feeling today, uh, but all along the same theme uh that the Lord wants to remind us of and share with us. Uh and so that's where we're gonna be camping out. I want to dive right in. I know a lot of times we'll kind of do a little setup, but we got a lot to cover today as we talk about Jesus uh being the great high priest in our lives. And so for any of you who don't have a Catholic background, uh, who maybe have just a lifelong Protestant background like myself, uh, this may be a little bit of a stretch to go, okay, the whole high priest thing, what is that all about? But we have to keep in mind that the author of Hebrews is writing to a predominantly Jewish audience. And so they're hearing this and they're understanding everything that he is putting out there about who Christ is for us. And it makes a lot of sense. So we want to give some background and see if we can understand the same things that they were understanding. I want to start reading in verse one of Hebrews chapter five. Let's read together. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was, right? Aaron, the relative of Moses, who was the first priest type for God's people. Verse 5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, You are my son, today I have begotten you. As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. He's quoting from the Psalms here. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death. This is referring back maybe to the Garden of Gethsemane, right, where Jesus said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup of suffering and the cross pass from me. But nevertheless, not my will be done, but your will be done. And he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And we'll hear a little bit more about Melchizedek here in just a moment. Right. So what what the author here is is now starting to unpack for this group of Jewish readers is Jesus as the great high priest. In fact, Jesus as the greater, the greatest high priest, the the only one that we need from here on out. And this was written to a people who understood the role of the high priest and what the high priest was supposed to be. When you look back to the Old Testament, we we see the references he makes kind of unpacked in more detail. He points out that the high priest was appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God. Right? So, in other words, the high priest was a mediator, a go-between between men and God. And the key is we need this mediator and go-between because man is sinful, and we are selfish and prideful, and we rebel against our creator. The created beings, the creatures, are in rebellion against the creator. The creator who is holy and perfect in his glory and love and majesty. And so there is this division and separation between sinful man and a holy God. So much so that man in our sin cannot even be in the presence of a holy God without death being the immediate result. And we see this throughout the Old Testament, the need for this mediator between God and man. Exodus chapter 20. I love this story where God appears on Mount Sinai and he's giving his law. So he's speaking his words through to Moses to give to the people. And they're watching from a distance as Moses is up on Mount Sinai, and Moses is functioning in this priest capacity, right? Being this mediator between God and man. And so Moses is up there, God's speaking to him, giving him these ten words to deliver to his people. And as the people are seeing from a distance, they're watching the whole mountain look like it's on fire and smoke coming up everywhere. They're hearing the voice of God that sounds like mighty thunder, and they're freaking out. And so this is what we see Exodus 20, verse 18. Now, when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid, and they trembled, and they stood far off, and they said to Moses, You speak to us, and we will listen. But do not let God speak to us, lest we what? Die. Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin. The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. Right? So these priests were God-appointed mediators, the idi these go-betweens, where they were able to approach the presence of God to represent sinful men. And they're able to go into God's presence, even to offer sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin, and to try to pursue this reconciliation. That was the role of the priest and the high priest. We see it even beginning with Moses. Moses went into God's presence because God appointed him and called him to do this. And so he acted as that representation. But people stood from a distance. They didn't have access to God's presence. And they didn't even want access to God's presence because they knew if they did enter it, they would die on the spot. And not having access isn't a great thing. Before first service, I didn't realize that our facility team actually put a keypad on this door right here where we access the front, the stage. So I come in and I look down and I'm getting ready to go up there, and I realize I don't have access. And that's a problem. So I had to lean out. What's the code? What's the code? Right? When we don't have access, it can be a problem. But when it comes to man, especially in the old covenant, who were aware of their sin, when they saw God and his glory and his power and his holiness and majesty, they wanted nothing to do with it. They said, Moses, you speak to us. But if God speaks to us, we're gonna die. Guys, what a reminder for us who have lost so much of the fear and the reverence of God in Christendom today. I think we're just so acclimated to hearing about God's love and his grace and his mercy, and I'm so grateful we hear so often about these things. Because we can't fully appreciate the love and grace of God until we understand the holiness and terror of his wrath against sin. We can't fully grab hold of our undeserved favor until we realize we don't deserve it and why we don't deserve it, and to enter his presence on our own, in our own goodness and our own effort, we would die on the spot. That's how holy and set apart, how other God is. There's this division between us because of our sin and be and our creator. And yet we still approach God so flippantly, right? So casually. We live as if He, you know, He doesn't really care that much about our sin. We can keep living for ourselves, we can keep doing these things that we know he's told us not to, and it's not that big of a deal, and we just accept it, it's become normalized instead of reminding us of the holiness of God and what it does to us in our relationship with him. Now, what the author of Hebrews is pointing out is that as the great high priest, Jesus is the ultimate and final mediator between God and man. So he is the great and final high priest, and he lives forever to be that go-between, that mediator, even though we are sinners. First Timothy chapter 2, verse 5, Paul writes this: For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. This is what Jesus meant when he said in John 14, 6, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. Right? He is our only access. Have we resolved ourselves to who we are apart from Christ? To that veil of separation. There's this imagery in the Old Testament temple that's very powerful. Right? This temple was the house of God, the place where God's people would go to worship. And they built it in a specific way. There was there was the courts of the temple or where the Gentiles and non-Jews would be able to come and gather and still worship the true God. And then God's people were allowed into the inner courts. But there was one place nobody had access to except for one. And it was typically once a year they were able to enter in. It was known as the holy or the holiest place. It was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, where God's presence, his tangible presence and power and his holiness was said to dwell. And only one time a year the high priest, right, the highest priest, would enter into that place to make sacrifice, to offer sacrifice for the sins of God's people. And that's it. Nobody else would ever go in because there was this veil, this thick curtain that acted as a clear separation. By the way, in the Greek, the word phenatos is where we get the word for death. It literally translates as separation. And this is the picture that was meant to be communicated that we, in our sin, we are separate from God. That's why scripture says we are dead in our trespasses and sins. We are separate from him and we can't enter in behind the curtain. We can't go in around the veil. There's no way over it, under it. We are completely and totally separated from him. And something significant happened, though, when Jesus, our great high priest, offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sin. When he hung on that cross in our place and became sin in our unrighteousness for us, and took his righteousness and gives it to us through faith in him. Something significant happened in that moment. Mark chapter 15, verse 37. Check this out. When Jesus dies for us, Jesus uttered a loud cry and he breathed his last, right? This is when he's on the cross. And the curtain of the temple, right? There's that veil of separation was torn in two. And guys, what was the direction it was torn? From top to bottom. You see the imagery here? Jesus is on the cross, he dies, he pays the price for our sin. And suddenly this veil of separation that keeps sinful man from a holy God is ripped in half. It is torn apart. And it's not torn apart from bottom to top, where man, through our goodness, our earning, our morality and religiousness rips it from top bottom to top to gain access to God. It was torn from top to bottom, where God Himself was doing the tearing. Because the satisfaction for the penalty of our sin was satisfied. This is what the author of Hebrews means, and when he writes in chapter 6, verse 19, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. So he says, In Jesus, we can enter God's holy presence. We can know him. We can be with him. We can hear directly from him. We don't need any longer a priest as a go-between between us and God. We have direct access. This also means that we can step back knowing this. We need to step back and ask ourselves a very serious question. Is our faith truly our own? Do we truly have access and relationship with God? Or are we still looking to other mediators and go-betweens? Our faith cannot be our parents' faith. Our faith cannot be our spouse's faith. As much as many of us maybe would love for that to be the case. You know what? I'm not really into the whole church thing and Christian Jesus thing, but man, my wife, my spouse, they're fully devoted, man. They're super into it. So, you know, if I when I stand before God, I'm gonna be good because she's so crazy about it, I'm just gonna be like, yeah, I'm with her. And man, on that day, there is only one that we can point to to say, I am with him. And who is that? It's Jesus. There is no secondary association that will grant us access to God and his holiness. Our sin needs to be forgiven. Our faith must be placed in Christ. We have to receive that gift ourselves. And I'm so thankful for this professor when I was in my undergrad school over at Biola, and uh, he was an adjunct. He wasn't even like fully on staff, he just kind of taught some classes as his ministry. And you know, I grew up as a pastor's kid, so I knew all the right answers. I'd heard all this stuff my whole life growing up, and and yet there was still a little bit of an element in my own heart where my faith was, well, yeah, of course I'm a Christian, it's just what I do. I'm a sharp. You know, my dad's in ministry, and so it was almost the secondary affiliation with God, not a direct relationship. And I was so thankful for this prof because every single time he would ask a question and I would give the right answer, the right Jesus answer because I knew it. I was a PK. And he would look at me and he would say, Ryan, great, that's a great response. How do you know that's true? Why did you say that? Where did you get that information? And I can't tell you how often I just looked at him and went, I don't like you very much right now. Because he was exposing something in me that I was almost coasting in, feeling like I can ride my parents' coattails into the kingdom of God. And it doesn't work that way. There is no priest anymore. It is a direct relationship and association. In Matthew chapter 7, when people come to Jesus and say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons and perform miracles? And he looks at them and says, Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness or iniquity. He does not say, because you didn't really know me that much. He says, Depart from me, for I never knew you. Do we have direct relationship with God? Guys, some of us, you've got to ask that question today. Or are you still trying to squeak by and get in because of someone you love and care about that loves Jesus very, very much and then knows him very in a very, very real way. Too many even treat pastors as a kind of mediator between you and God. I cannot emphasize this enough. Please hear my heart on this, but please hear the truth of it. You ready? I am not your priest. There was a time when I was working hospice and I was with a family whose mother, grandmother, great-grandmother was passing and going to be with the Lord. They were all gathered around, and I came in and said, Let me pray. And I started praying for this woman as the Lord is bringing her home and great, God-honoring, amazing family. And and so I I'm praying, and as I'm praying for her, there was a fly in this assisted living facility thing that kept buzzing around, it kept landing on her, and I was like, uh, so I'm trying to like, you know, I'm praying and I'm getting the fly away. And and I get done praying, and the the family, I think the daughter just says, Thank you so much. So are you a priest? And I had this moment, like, oh no, no, no, I'm so sorry. Did you did you want a priest? Like, I'm not a priest, I'm I'm a pastor, but did you want a priest? We could arrange that. She goes, Oh no, no, no, I just saw you crossing my mom. It's like, oh, I'm so sorry. I was just shooting a flyaway. You know, so please don't be confused. Right? I am not your priest, I'm not your mediator, I'm not your go-between. You don't need me to enter into the presence of God. And yet, how many of us still will come to church every Sunday? And that is the whole of the encounter in God's presence that we ever have. We don't go directly ourselves to relate and connect with Him individually. We're we're waiting for it to be spoon-fed to us by the priest type pastor. Because when you come to me and your life is falling apart and things are just just not good, and you don't know what to do, and you're looking for answers, I'm blessed and I'm I'm happy to sit down with you. But the the most I have to offer you is to sit down with you and go, man, I hear what's going on. Can we can we do this together? Can can we open God's word and let's look to what God has to say about this? That is the most, that's all I have to offer you. If you ever sit down and tell me your problems, and my response as your pastor is, well, you know what? Here's what I think you should do. Run away. You don't want to hear my advice, you want to hear what God has to say about it. And you don't need me to do that. I'm happy to redirect you there. But the first question you need to ask is of God. To say, Jesus, I don't know what to do here. My life is in shambles, and I need to hear from you. God, thank you for giving me access through Jesus. I know I don't deserve it, but here I am, and you want to speak to me. I'm not gonna be like the people of Israel and say, Moses, you speak to us because if God speaks to us, we're gonna die. No, no, because I have a great high priest, and my sin is forgiven. And God, you have called me in, you've beckoned me in to your presence to be with you, and so I can sit down and I can open your word. And so, God, speak to me. Speak directly to my heart. Tell me what to do, tell me your plan for my life. Show me more who you are, but speak directly to me so I can have life, so I can know you. And I'm not leaving here until you speak. I want to hear from you, Jesus. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9. Peter reminds us, he says, but you are a chosen race. Hear this next phrase. You speaking to God's people, right? This is all y'all. You are a chosen race. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Not only do we no longer need a human earthly priest to be mediator between God and us, guys, you are a priesthood. You are a royal priesthood who has direct access to the King of Kings himself. The question is, do we appreciate, do we value this great gift, or do we take it for granted? And I know so often we do. We drag ourselves here in the morning, we drag ourselves to church, and we're tired and we're kind of grumbling, we're kind of thinking, all right, what time does my team play? Not till 1.25. All right, I should be all right. Let's go to the nine. Man, have you all found out that your favorite celebrity, some famous person, somebody that's like, wow, everybody knows them. If we made an announcement, hey, they're gonna be here at church next week, a lot of you guys would be early to church for the first time in your lives. Trying to get your seat, trying to make sure that you've got the parking arrangements the way it needs to be, trying to make sure that you guys are set, ready to go, because you don't want to miss anything. And yet, Sunday after Sunday, week after week, we gather together as the people of God, and we gather together with full assurance from his word that as we gather, his presence is here, that he is with us, and we are entering into the presence of God to worship him, to encounter him, to meet with him, and we're just like where's the coffee? Are we missing something? How many of you guys own a Bible? Anybody? Okay, good. How many guys own more than one Bible? Excellent. How many of you would estimate maybe five or more? Oh yeah, oh yeah. We could keep going, right? Some of you guys are like, oh, I've got a lot of Bibles because I like the different translations. I like this study Bible, but then I prefer these study notes over here. And you know, I have a couple different leather Bibles because this leather is so much softer. We have 15 Bibles at home, and yet how many of them do you open and do you read and do you let God speak to you through on a regular basis? We are inundated with God's word, and yet we don't ever want to listen to it. We don't ever want to hear it. We don't ever enter in ourselves. It's only when somebody acts as that mediator for us. The high priest, we read, was also chosen to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. This is one of the primary tasks or roles of the high priest, this once a year in particular, to go for the sin of the people and to offer a sacrifice of an animal without blemish. And there's this imagery that some would say that they would come around to the front and they would lift the head of that animal. And so they're looking eye to eye with this animal as they would then take the knife and slit the throat, and the blood would flow. And you think that's gruesome, that's terrible. That's exactly what the picture is supposed to be. Because there's this idea of what's called substitutionary atonement. It is this animal did nothing wrong, and yet it is dying because of what I've done. And so I am associating with, I am identifying with this animal as I watch the life behind its eyes fade. That should be me. And so the priest would take this animal and offer it up on the altar as sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. And that sacrifice would burn. And Leviticus instructed them to keep the sacrifice on the altar burning all night long until the early morning hours. So that the people of God, even as they were in their beds at night, in their homes, and as they slept, the odor, the aroma of that sacrifice would permeate everywhere. And they would be reminded of this sacrifice and the grace God was showing them. And then Jesus comes, the sinless, perfect Lamb of God. Our great high priest, the only one qualified to die for our sins. You notice here the statement where the author of Hebrews says, every high priest is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people. Do you guys catch that? Right? The idea here is I can't die for your sin. The wages of sin is death, and the only way to satisfy God's holy wrath against sin is death, is the blood being shed. And so if I valiantly, nobly said, Hey, I know you are a sinner, and so I am going to die in your place. I'm going to be a sacrifice for your sin. And I tried to offer that to the Lord, the holy God would say, Ryan, you're not dying for anybody's sin but your own. Because we are all worthy and deserving of death and separation from God because of our sin. Only Jesus in his sinlessness was worthy and deserving to be able to die as that sacrifice. And so he offers himself. And he's not just the priest doing the offering, he is the sacrifice. He is the one who takes away the sin of the world. And he does it as is referenced here as a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And I wish I had more time, guys, to really unpack Melchizedek, even just to encourage you, any of you who are having babies anytime soon, to name them Melchizedek. Call them Melky for short. That'd be awesome. But the idea here is a reference to Genesis 14. There's this short story, this historical account of Abraham, the first of the Jewish people, that God calls to father the whole of the Jewish nation, the nation of Israel. And Israel comes back from fighting these enemy nations and he meets with this guy named Melchizedek, and he's described as a priest of Salem. And we don't know anything else about him. No one tells us where he came from, where he went. All we know is that Abraham honored him as a priest of God, and that he gave him a tenth of everything that he had in order to honor him. That's all we know. And so let me just read this, chapter 7, verse 1. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. And to him Abraham apportioned a tenth, a tithe, a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness. That's what Melchizedek means. See, see, you should name your kid. That's good. And then he is also king of Salem, that is king of peace. Salem is where we get shalom, right? Tied together. He is with our father, our mother, or genealogy, neither having neither, I'm sorry, he is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever. Now, some would argue that what the author of Hebrews is saying here is that this Melchizedek is what's known as the Christophany. It's a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Testament. So before he came into the world to die for the sins of the world and took on human flesh, he appeared in Old Testament stories. That's what some would argue. I don't think that's what the author of Hebrews is suggesting here. What he's trying to do is point to this Melchizedek to answer any objections the Jewish people might have about Jesus being the great and greatest high priest. Because some of them would object to say every priest is from the tribe of Levi. They are Levitical priests according to God's law. And the author of Hebrews is pointing out that yes, Jesus is technically from the tribe of Judah. And yet he is a priest like Melchizedek was a priest. Not of the lineage of the Levites, the law of Moses and religious performance and all of these things, but like Melchizedek, who we don't know where he came from, don't know where he went. All we know, he was a priest, and he lives as a priest forever because that's how we recognize him in Genesis 14. And so this is the whole argument of that. If you want to read more of his statements about Melchizedek, you can read through the whole of chapter 7. But I want to bring this thing home today by answering this question. What does any of this high priest conversation have to do with us as Protestant Christians today? I mean, we had a Reformation, right? So what is this all about? I want to go back to the end of chapter 4. And we'll see why this matters. Verse 14. He writes this Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, right? Remember the ascension of Jesus. He has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Hold tightly to our faith in him. Verse 15, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So why does all of this matter? Because we have a great high priest who understands everything we go through. My parents would tell the story of when I was four months old. I don't remember it. I was a baby. But I had a, I was diagnosed with a benign tumor in my intestines. And they didn't know what was going on, and I kept, I couldn't keep food down, and I was just not doing well. And and they finally kept taking me in and they discovered this, and it it had started twisting my intestines. And so the intestines were starting to rot and getting ready to burst open. And if you guys know science at all, that's not good. And so they flew in a specialist, a surgeon from the East Coast to come and at four months old to open me up and to take all of my intestines. I literally spilled my guts and remove the tumor and go through all of it. And my mom's question was, Are you sure you put them all back right? And here I am trying to recover, and this is back in 1977, the end of the year. And so my parents are asking, is he gonna be okay? Is he gonna be okay? And the only answer they got is, we can't tell you that. We just don't know. This is really scary right now. There's a chance he may not make it. And I'm there strapped to the bed so I don't pull the tubes out of my nose, needles everywhere, recovering from this incredibly invasive surgery. And my parents aren't sure if their little boy is gonna die. And they had some acquaintances visit them at the hospital. And these acquaintances came in and were trying to comfort. And the woman was there talking with my mom, and she tried to give her assurance, and she said, Karen, I'm so sorry, but just so you know, I understand exactly what you're going through. Just a few months ago, our little dog Fifi was very sick, and we almost lost her. So we know what you're experiencing right now. How would you have responded? My mom held it together. She looked at her and very firmly said, You have no idea what I'm going through. I need you to leave. She goes, I don't know. Never talk to him again. Right? Because in that moment, what do we need? We need someone who can truly sympathize with our struggle, who can understand what we're going through. There's nothing more comforting. We're in the middle of pain and suffering and hardship, even guilt and shame of sin and all of these things. Nothing more comforting than someone who can come alongside and who has been through what we are in currently. To say, I know what you're going through, I know what you're experiencing, but there's life on the other side. There's hope on the other side. We've been through it, and I'm here to remind you of what is still to come. That is the hope we have with our great high priest. There's nothing we go through, nothing we've been through that he hasn't experienced. Not even a temptation. Now he was tempted, but without sin. But he understands what it's like to be hangry. He understands what it's like to be overly tired and exhausted and not on your best. He understands what it means to have appetite and desire, humanly speaking. He understands fear. He understands all of these things. That's why in the garden, before going to the cross, he did cry out to his father and say, if there's any other way, Father, if there's any other way, I know what this is gonna require of me. And if there's any other way, please let that happen. I don't want to do this. He said, but if not, then your will be done, not mine. And he went to the cross. Guys, I don't know what you're going through today. What I do know is that you can approach the throne of God with confidence. And if your immediate response is that it's impossible because I just, I'm so, I'm such a sinner and I'm so bad, and and and and I just there, I'm nobody, I'm nothing. Like, how could I do that? You can do it because God's throne is not a throne of goodness, it's not a throne of greatness, it's a throne of grace. Yeah, you don't deserve it. Yeah, you're a nobody, but he is everybody, and he sees you and loves you, and he beckons you in because of Jesus, your great high priest. It's all him, it's not you. That's the beauty of the gospel, the good news that we all teach and celebrate and proclaim. That we have this great high priest who understands, who can represent us perfectly, and who lives forever, even now, making intercession for us. Jesus interceding for us. You know that picture of I know, I know what what he deserves, but he's in me. I know who Ryan is, and I know what he thinks, and I know how he's a coward too often, and I know all of these things, but but Ryan, you're in me. And so when our holy God sees me, he he sees his son, his son's righteousness, his son's holiness, his son's perfection, his son's honoring him in obedience. And so that's why I'm a child of God. Is that good news? Guys, can we stand together? I just want to take a moment. I want to just come before the Lord. So, whatever way you need to do that, you can close your eyes, bow your head, you can look up, whatever you want to do. Can we just come before God, knowing He is present right now? Father, we enter in, we we approach your throne boldly, confidently, like a small child would approach a great king, knowing you've given us access because of Jesus, and we don't deserve it, we're not worthy of it, and yet you offer it. Guys, if you're here today and you have never grabbed hold of that, you've never taken that access that God offers you through Christ, you're still in your sin, the veil of separation is still up, and you feel distant and separate. And today, your understanding, man, you can have access, you can know God. Your sin can be forgiven, and it's all through your faith in Christ. Would you join me today? Would you just pray? Say, God, I need you. I know I can't approach you. I know I'm a sinner. But you gave me your son, Jesus, and he is my great high priest, and I trust him with everything today. Jesus, come into my life. Forgive my sin. Change my heart and make me a new creation. I don't want to live for myself anymore. I want to live for you. I want to know you. Lord Jesus, for those of us who have made that decision at some point in the past, but maybe have just started to take you for granted. God would you reawaken? Re-enthuse our passion for you. And we will no longer be like those people of Israel saying, No, no, no, God, you don't speak to us. Otherwise, we're gonna die. But instead, we say, God, you do speak to us, otherwise we'll die. We need to hear from you, and you alone have the words of life. God, we give you all glory, and we thank you that you call us to approach your throne of grace with confidence. In Jesus' name. Amen.