WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:06.240 Old Testament history, what could this possibly have to do with me and um with my life? 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:07.759 Well, I I knew right away. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:18.000 I read this Monday on Monday, Sam and I read this together, and we read it, and right away I just said, Sam, it's gonna take me some work this week because I'm reading this, I'm getting nothing out of this. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:20.000 Um, my immediate reaction. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.719 Uh, but the first thing was uh obviously Raiders have lost art, right? 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:27.440 It was on yesterday, USA Network, in the afternoon. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:28.640 Anybody catch it? 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:29.519 Somebody? 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:30.559 Yeah, Mark. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:31.359 Okay, thanks. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.560 Raiders lost 1981, Indiana Jones. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:38.560 I can remember being a small kid and watching this with my dad. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:43.280 And I so specifically remember the scene when the Nazis had the arc and they're in the cave. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:45.039 And some of you maybe don't remember this. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:56.159 So they open the arc and Indiana's tied up to like a pole with his, you know, the woman of the movie, you know, every every movie had a given woman, and she's tied up with him, and he's like, Don't look at it, close your eyes. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:01.840 And the Nazis open it, and this gray cloud comes up, and then it's these awesome lasers. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:14.319 You see the lasers just these awesome lasers start to strike down the Nazis, and then just the great scene where the Nazis' face melts, and they all start to melt. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:23.280 I can just remember being seven or eight years old, and this one being one of the marking images of my childhood, was that those faces melting off? 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.480 I just immediately that stuck with me. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.480 So, the ark. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:30.719 Um, it has more relevance than that. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:44.640 But as an uneducated kid, uh I was left with, and and it's very easy even to be left with this as an adult, if you don't kind of dig into it a little bit, is like, is was is that how God regards me? 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:47.120 Is this what the presence of God is like? 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:55.519 Is like lasers lasering through me and my face melting off, or does he regard me um in some other way? 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:57.519 And is he in is he in the ark? 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:02.799 Is he in some special holy, sacred dresser? 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.920 Or or like in a sacred building. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:08.560 You know, don't run in the sanctuary. 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:09.680 You know. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:11.840 Children. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:12.800 Right? 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:14.319 This is this is different. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:17.120 This is different than all the other rooms in our lives. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:19.520 This is, you know, sacred. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:20.560 This is sacred. 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:23.919 Other places not sacred, but but this is sacred, right? 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:31.280 Like that mentality and what we're what we're communicating or what we're left wondering is is like, oh, so like he's there. 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:35.039 But is he like with me? 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:39.120 Like, is he is he is he with me on Monday? 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.439 Is he with me when I'm messy? 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:45.759 Is he with me when I'm cutting the grass or I'm doing the dishes or I'm in the hallway at school? 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:48.240 Like, is he with me there? 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:55.120 And this is what gets me so excited about the Ark of the Covenant, is it speaks, it speaks to this. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:05.919 And I think it starts to speak into the misconceptions we can come away with about how God regards us and where exactly He is. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:14.240 And I think for a lot of us, why perhaps it's easy to come away from the Christian faith and go, you know what, it's just not working for me. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:17.039 Maybe you wouldn't voice that, you wouldn't say it, you don't want to say it. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:23.360 Maybe you don't even realize you actually think it, but you do think it underneath, and you just say, it's not, it's not working for me. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:27.520 And I actually think the Ark of the Covenant speaks into this. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:36.639 So uh the week between uh Christmas and New Year's, every year, Christy's whole family, we all go to Christy's folks' house in Orlando. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:59.360 We're all there together for four or five days, and this past uh between Christmas and New Year's, we were down there, and Christy's dad and I, we were out on the back patio, and there's a nice pool and a little fish and lake and uh big, beautiful blue sky, and somehow, I don't know where everybody else was, somehow we were out there just by ourselves, which is remarkable because there's just like kids everywhere, a lot of people moving around. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:05.280 But somehow we're out there by ourselves, and Christy's dad, he's not scared of the awkward silence. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:07.919 Like, he may have invented the awkward silence, I'm not sure. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:10.879 As a son-in-law, took me a while to be okay with that. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:20.000 I kept trying to fill that void, and then I realized, like, oh, like he's he's really cool with this, I'm just gonna get cool with it, and now the relationship's much, much better. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:24.959 And so we just embrace the silences, so there's lots of space, right? 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:29.839 You're one-on-one, but lots of space in the conversation, and it's fine. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:42.879 So after a long break, we're sitting out there, after a long break of us just sitting, just sitting together, uh, he just looks at me and he says, This sure is a special place. 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:48.959 And then he just goes back at looking out over the little fishing lake. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:57.920 Okay, his backstory to explain why he didn't say this is a good place, it's a nice place, it's a great place, but this is a special place. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:02.160 He was he was communicating this is something more than just good. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:05.120 It means something more to him. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:13.360 And it's actually got me started to be a little bit curious about this because I think we all have these places, and it doesn't have to be a second home, it can be a camping spot. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:15.360 It can literally be a chair. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:28.480 It could be your nana's house, it could be like the corner in the library that you discovered, and for whatever reason, when you finally can get yourself there, it's so quiet that you're at peace and you feel at home. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.199 And so I'm just curious, let's have a little conversation here. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:41.920 Uh, who would just say, like, they would just throw out, like, what is that place for you that when you show up, everything is okay. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:49.199 The chair that shows the nurse is that's your spot. 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:51.759 Where's the chair at? 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:02.079 I have no prize here of who's better because I felt like that would be very belittling to everybody else. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:05.439 Usually I like to give out a prize, I'm gonna do a prize this morning. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:07.120 Somebody else? 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:11.120 Okay, lake, patio at the lake. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:11.920 I know your spot. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:12.959 That's my mama. 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:16.480 Okay. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:19.680 And what, why, what is it? 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:23.519 Okay. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:29.120 Your garden? 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:30.800 I've been I've been to your garden. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:32.639 Flowers. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:51.360 Right, so it's these places, and we know these places, because we all have them. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:54.560 And they're places of rest and joy. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:58.160 And we call we we'll use the word special. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.279 We'll even use the word sacred. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.120 Now, here's what's so amazing. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:16.720 Because we're gonna look at this Ark of the Covenant, and we're gonna look at where it takes us, and here's what's so amazing is that to God, you are that place. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:22.720 That you are the most important place in the world. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:28.160 In fact, the scriptures say that you're sacred. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:31.839 Now, I know you don't feel that way. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:33.759 I mean, I don't think anybody in here is gonna raise their hands. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:35.920 I'm just walking around feeling really sacred. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:37.199 I'm feeling sacred a lot. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:54.399 I don't think any of us are feeling that because a lot of us, most of us, are walking around sort of ho-humming through life or trying to manage our way through, and at times you're feeling great, and maybe you're feeling sacred, and then the next moment all of a sudden you're like feel like a failure, and you're in fear and anxiety, and you feel like you're never enough, and then all of a sudden you feel like you're enough. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:58.000 So, right, I mean, we're all over the place when it comes to this. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:04.480 But you are God's most sacred place. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:06.480 And I want to show you this. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:16.399 So in chapter 24, Moses goes up on Mount Sinai, and this cloud, strange cloud covers the mountain, and he's up there 40 days, and he receives the Ten Commandments. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:26.879 So then he comes back down and he's told all these directions, instructions, how they're gonna build this Ark of the Covenant, and then these Ten Commandments are gonna go inside the Ark. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.800 And you know, this man, like this is so bizarre to us today. 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:34.559 But what we have to understand, there's no safety deposit boxes, right? 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:37.120 There's no like insured bank accounts. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:50.080 And back then, when you made a covenant with somebody, a legal document relationship, when you did that, each person took their copy of the terms and they put them in the most sacred place they had. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:51.840 And so that's what's going on here. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:55.120 So to these people, this makes complete sense. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:09:04.320 And so we get Exodus 25, 21, and 22, and you shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:06.639 That's the Ten Commandments that I shall give you. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:19.120 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:25.600 See, the ark's telling these people something in their culture, even though it's bizarre to us, he's telling something to these people in their culture. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:30.559 If we figure out what it's telling them, then we can begin to see what it might have for us. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:36.000 So God's saying, okay, I've given you the Ten Commandments, and I've actually spoken to you a lot about like rest and six and one, right? 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:41.919 We've been talking about the last few weeks, six and one, six and one, six and one years, six and one days of the week, and find your rest. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:42.720 You need that. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:50.559 And then he's saying, hey, we got an Ark of the Covenant, and it's gonna go into a tabernacle, and then eventually that temporary structure is gonna be a temple later on. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:53.840 He gets all these stats on the ark and how to build it. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:55.360 And so we get two points. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:57.360 These points are not complicated, right? 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:02.720 They're not complicated, but they're incredibly profound if we let our hearts rest in them. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:05.440 And the first one is this, and I've already alluded to it. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:08.399 Point number one, God makes his home in you. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:10.960 That's where he makes his home. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:18.480 It's not in a building, it's not in some special place, not in some special building, not in some special sanctuary or some special piece of furniture. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.000 It's in you. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:29.120 Now, this ark was the place in the Old Testament before Jesus as final sacrifice in the presence of God, actually living in us. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.480 This was where God resided amongst them. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:42.799 And the ark was in what was called was the holy of holies, and then on the day of atonement each year, the high priest for the people would come in and make the sacrifice for the sins of the people. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:47.360 So this was a person coming into the presence of God to make a sacrifice. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:11:05.440 So this relationship should be clear, even though sinful humanity, who wants to be selfish and we're not good to each other, and we walk away from God, and God who is just and holy, that these two beings can have relationship without God sacrificing his own justice. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:13.519 So what he does is he sacrifices himself, and the justice is met in his own sacrifice. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:15.440 That's the cross. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:19.600 But they had to wonder, these folks back then, right? 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:22.799 I mean, this high priest gets to go in. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:27.120 They had to wonder, like, okay, so he's in there. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:32.399 So is he is he with me? 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:34.320 Or is he just in there? 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:46.000 So like is he with me, like when I tend my field, or when my wife and I get in a fight, or when kids are difficult, or when my friend is difficult with me? 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:49.120 Like, is he in that or is he just in there? 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:53.279 Is he present in my anxiousness today? 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:56.320 Or is he is he waiting for me to get my act together? 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:57.759 And then I can come to him? 00:11:57.919 --> 00:11:58.879 Or maybe he'll come to me. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:11:59.360 I don't know. 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:00.000 Right, right? 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:10.320 Like, I mean, these are the questions they had to be asking, and then it starts to come together for us after Jesus' death, because we start to get words like this, Stephen in Acts 7, 48. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:16.080 So this is after Jesus' death, as the high priest and the final sacrifice he was himself. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:22.000 And Stephen says this in Acts, yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands. 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:25.360 Well, we read that, we go, oh, you know, of course. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:26.799 Of course. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:29.919 To them, this was radical, this was huge. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:36.320 That God is not that is not dwelling within systems and within buildings, but actually within people. 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:44.879 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, 16, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.799 Now I had always heard that just as guilt motivator. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:51.279 Like, really hammer that one home, right? 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:52.799 And then I'll behave. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.519 And it is used as a motivator. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:13:03.039 Like, do you not realize that you have the great, incredible, sacred identity that you've always wanted? 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.039 Already you have this. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:06.720 Already. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:13.039 So to be clear, I I like to I like to draw things. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:14.799 Um, helps me at least. 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:16.320 It might not help you. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:18.399 So just real simple drawing. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.840 I I drew on a sheet of paper on my desk this week. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.759 So uh I am no artist by any means. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:27.120 I can do the cube, right? 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:29.039 So let's say that's the ark. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:36.720 Uh and really what we see throughout the Old Testament and the covenant of law is we see that this is God's presence. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:38.320 It's his most sacred place. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:40.639 This is how we understand his presence. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:52.159 And then uh here, this is where they're going in on the Day of Atonement, you know, and maybe I'll draw these cherubim, and then there's like a mercy seat or something, and please don't hold me to any of that. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:57.120 Uh but they're coming in to make the sacrifice so that there can be relationship. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:09.919 But then Christ comes and sacrifices himself as God himself, and here is where this shift, this huge shift occurs, and let's just call this you and me. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:23.120 And so what happens is this shift occurs from the most sacred place being a temple, tabernacle, an ark, to it being you. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:26.960 And to being me. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:29.919 And we talk about sacred places, right? 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:44.000 There's a cave under a church in Bethlehem, and I got to go there probably about uh maybe seven years ago at this point, and people are lined up, and you go under, you go in this cave, and people are kissing the tile floor where they think Jesus was born. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:48.320 Because a lot of people will think the place is sacred. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:52.480 But see, really, they're they're sacred. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:57.600 The Aztecs believe a volcano in Mexico is sacred. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:00.639 Uh, the Temple Mount, lots of people believe the Temple Mount is sacred. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:04.559 A lot of people believe Wall Street is sacred or the mall or Capitol Hill, right? 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:17.759 We we all think different places are sacred, but here this ark and then the truth that you are the temple now, that he resides in you, not in a religious system and not within a building. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:18.720 But you. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:28.320 And you think how radical this would be to these people that for so long just believed he resided in a building. 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:36.080 And it's God saying to you and me, you're the most important place in the world. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:38.399 You are sacred. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:49.360 And it's not by your holy perfection and by your behavior and your work, it is by my work that this shift occurs and that my presence is in you. 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:51.200 And that is forever. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:55.919 And that is never ending, whether we feel it or not, he makes his home in you. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:56.639 More good news. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:57.519 Point number two. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:06.080 And this is a point I made a lot going through the Ten Commandments because it's just the structure of how law and gospel, the covenant of law and the covenant of grace interact. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:12.799 And it's this point number two: God crushes us with what we should be, and we should be it. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:13.600 Alright? 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.240 I mean, anytime God tells us what we should be, we should be it. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:28.960 This is what we should be, but it crushes us eventually because we never live up to it completely, and specifically when it comes from an inward out living with pure motivations we don't, but then he relieves us in his grace. 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:30.080 Alright, that was a long point. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:31.279 Let me rephrase it. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:37.919 God crushes us with what we should be, then relieves us in his grace. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.600 In the theological world, this is called a law-gospel framework. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:44.799 I just see it as how the scriptures are laid out. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:50.000 What it means is it means we can admit that we're not perfect. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:52.799 We can finally be honest. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:17:07.839 That we can really want to be the thing that God calls us to be, and we can also be honest that we're not that perfectly, which means that we don't have to pretend, which means that we can freely confess, which means we can receive the grace of God more, and we can not live in despair. 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:18.640 And see, what we see is we see it in the ark because the law is inside the ark, but there's a mercy seat on top of the ark. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:21.519 And we really need the mercy seat on top of the ark. 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:24.079 That the story didn't end with the Ten Commandments. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:26.640 The Ten Commandments sent us somewhere. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:35.519 And so the Old Testament and the system in the Old Testament is a visual for us that we don't have to be perfect as to be accepted and beloved by God. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:37.440 That would be law. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.960 We're relieved of trying to make ourselves and our lives perfect. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:44.400 That's law. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:49.759 Of trying to be approved by everybody, that's law. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:57.119 The exhaustion of standards and merit as we validate it as a person. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:06.160 So that's law to use Christian practices or disciplines as means of trying to feel like you're more forgiven by God, that's law. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:08.799 But there's a mercy seat. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:18.240 That grace and forgiveness and belovedness are given by Jesus' sufficient work for you. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:19.440 That's gospel. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:20.960 That's good news. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:30.400 That relieves our needy hearts and it heals us, and it begins a process of transformation that we want to do the things God calls us to. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:40.160 And because we're not under law, we can be broken by the law and return back into confession and then set our hearts back toward Him without being in despair and in shame. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:46.160 Listen to Hebrews 9, 11 through 15, as the writer connects all of this for us. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:19:06.799 But when Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, so this is you, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:28.559 For if the blood of goats and bulls, so that's what they were doing, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:33.920 Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, new way of life for us. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:46.880 So that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.359 So there's a covenant of law at work, right? 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:50.720 In the Old Testament, we see it. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.079 It's still at work. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:20:03.920 It's at work in religion, it's at work in the secular world, it's at work in relationships, in families, and it is the way of life of standards and living up to something as to be accepted. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:16.319 And those standards may guide your behavior, certainly guide the behavior of society, but they cannot be the place where you rest your heart. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:18.160 Or you will be exhausted. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:18.880 You felt it. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:19.680 You felt it. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:20.400 You feel it. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:26.880 You know when you go into the covenant of law because you're exhausted or you're anxious or you're afraid. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:30.480 Law just exhausts me. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:33.119 And I do it all the time. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:39.200 I mean, pretty much wherever I find my anxieties, that's the places where I'm still living under law. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:41.680 Right? 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:45.440 I can do it with the church, I can do it with my sermons, I can do it with people's opinion of me. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:47.119 I can do it with a million things. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:50.240 I can do it with trying to get everything under control. 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:57.039 If I can just get it all under control, if life can get a little bit cleaner and neater, if I can control all of that. 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:01.440 And it's all law, but there's a mercy seat. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:11.839 See, this mercy seat shows us another way because it foretells of God's once and for all gift to us that we already have what we're looking for. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:15.200 There's this deep longing in us. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:28.160 There's a deep longing in you to have this validation and secure relationship with God, to really believe that you are the most sacred place in the world. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:42.880 That's a deep longing inside of us, but for us to get to the point to shift from thinking that it's got to be our work to get to that, to the fact that He has given it already to us in the work of Jesus, that's the shift we have to make. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:47.039 That's the freedom, that's the life of under the covenant of grace. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:56.319 So it's here that this Christian life that can so often feel like it's not working, it always works. 00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:57.599 It always works. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:00.880 The problem's not that the Christian life doesn't work, the problem's us. 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:02.079 We're the problem. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:06.799 Our Christian lives don't work because we mix them with law. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:22.160 But as we see this and we recognize it, we confess it, and we invite God into those places of law and we receive his grace toward us, transformation begins because we're secure and we're relieved, and the healing begins. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:25.440 So, my brothers and sisters, God is with you always and forever. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:27.920 He makes his home in you. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:35.119 You are the most sacred place in the world because of Jesus' work for you. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:36.319 Let's pray together. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:38.240 God, I thank you. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:57.200 That we do not have to depend on our work to be approved by you or even to feel sacred, but that we can know and trust we are sacred even when our emotions tell us otherwise. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.880 Would you help us in greater ways to trust you? 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:04.480 Would we see this Ark of the Covenant and see what it tells us? 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:13.279 That there is a way of law for our behavior that we should look at and recognize, but also see that it crushes us. 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:16.079 And would we be relieved by this mercy seat? 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:21.039 That you have given to us all the work we need done. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:25.599 And we have been validated and forgiven and secure with you. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:33.200 Would you help us to receive this great gift of an eternal inheritance that begins now? 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.079 That begins with our identities now. 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:45.440 God, would we find great rest and that you find your home in us? 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:47.599 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:48.480 Amen.