WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:08.320 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:13.359 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:16.000 Let's pray together. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:23.280 Father, when we say that you're all to us, that is a big confession because what we're saying is a statement about your sufficiency. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:28.079 That uh it's not that Jesus is a band-aid that we just kind of put on the cancer of this life. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:28.960 No, no, no. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:31.440 You're it's a statement that you're sufficient. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:37.439 Regardless of what we got going on around us, what we have or don't have, uh, you're you're you're all to us. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:42.719 And so give us a deeper, fuller understanding of how sufficient you are from the Bible today. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:47.039 We're not here to get a feeling that we try to maintain at least till Tuesday. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:52.880 When we kind of understand your sufficiency, it reorients everything about our life around you. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:57.359 That doesn't make us Bible thumpers or religious zealots or the far right or whatever. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:01.439 It makes us the most liberated cat in the room at work tomorrow. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:03.759 And that's what people want to be around. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.519 People don't have a stomach for religion, and neither do you, God. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:09.519 You're a God of relationship. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.840 And so speak to us about relationship today and what makes that possible. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:18.159 What's necessary and what's enough for relationship to be ours. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:20.000 That's why we're here today. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:21.599 Speak now, we ask. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:25.439 Your people are listening in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:26.239 You can have a seat. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:31.439 If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it to Acts chapter, I mean, excuse me, Exodus chapter 24. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:33.040 Exodus chapter 24. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.040 If you're our guest today, let me say welcome. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:36.640 Uh, we're preaching through the book of Exodus. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:38.079 We're gonna come to chapter 24. 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:40.239 Here's what we do at Grand Parkway at this church. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:42.079 Well, I'll read a part of the Bible like this morning. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:44.879 I'm gonna read eight verses, uh, and then I'll tell you what happens. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:46.319 I'm gonna describe what happens. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:47.680 I'm gonna make two points. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:53.760 Uh I'll make three points by way of introduction to kind of give you a framework to drop over the the passage we're gonna read. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:56.560 And then I just want to make two points, and then we're gonna get out of here. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:06.879 We'll come back and and and Clyde will kind of sing over us, give us some time to think about what we've heard, and then we'll get out of here, and you can go begin to wait for a table at Mom's brunch, okay? 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.879 And I want to make a special welcome to all you that are here because you ask your mom, what do you want for Mother's Day? 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.439 And she said, All I want is for you to go to church with me. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:17.199 Uh relax, okay? 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:18.879 This will be painless, all right? 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:24.879 If you've never gone to a church or if you're new to this whole thing, or if your first thought was, if I go to that church, the building's gonna fall down. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:27.280 Notice the building is not falling down. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:27.840 Okay? 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:32.400 Secondly, and I mean this part right, I mean everything I'm saying, but I really mean this. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:36.719 If you don't have a church and you're kind of like, I'm not really big on this, I want to be your pastor. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:38.639 And so here's what I want you to think about. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.479 Do I want that Yahu is my pastor? 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:41.120 What does that mean? 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:43.280 I don't yell at you, I don't scream at you. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:48.960 It means it's somebody that loves you, and every time you see me, you think, man, that guy's for me. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:52.319 He he thinks more of me than I think of myself sometimes. 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:56.560 A guy called me about a month ago and he said, Hey, I'm kind of at a low point. 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:57.520 And I said, Okay. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:59.039 He said, Can we get coffee? 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:01.599 Because I think I've forgotten the truth about who I really am. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:06.080 So we got coffee, and I just got to speak into his life and say, hey, this is true about who you are. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:08.639 About 35 minutes later, he said, That's all I needed. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:09.520 I gotta get back to work. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:10.240 I said, All right. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.039 So if you don't have a pastor, I want to be your pastor. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.080 If you don't have a church, this place would love to be your church. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:16.719 Amen? 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:19.039 All right, here's what we're gonna read today. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.280 I'm gonna talk to you this morning about the framework of worship. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:29.919 The framework of worship, and I want to give you kind of three words to kind of, by way of introduction, let me just give them to you content, covenant, and character. 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:32.080 Content, covenant, and character. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:32.800 What do you mean? 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:37.439 Under content, here's what you have here in in in Exodus chapter 24. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:39.039 It's the structure of a worship service. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:41.840 You ever come to church and you wonder why churches do what they do? 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:47.360 They kind of sing, they read the Bible out loud, and then a guy, in this case me, gets up and talks. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:48.960 Uh here's where that comes from. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:50.400 It's Exodus 24. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:56.800 Because the structure of a worship service, this is the first one described in the Bible, and it kind of sets the pattern for biblical worship. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:04.080 You have this content, you have a call to worship, you have the reading of the word, a confession of faith, and then at the end they share this sacramental meal. 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:09.840 And it's under the oversight of Israel's elders, and it's by this servant appointed to lead public worship. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:16.160 Uh, because what happens is in the past four chapters, chapters 20 to chapter 23, they've outlined the terms of the covenant. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:19.360 Think of it, covenant is kind of like a marriage relationship, okay? 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:21.040 They outline the terms of the covenant. 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.680 God says, I will be your God, and you'll be my people. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:27.040 And here's the terms by which this relationship will work, okay? 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:28.000 That's the content. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:29.199 The second is covenant. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:30.959 I've used that word about three times already. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:32.319 Let me just give you a definition. 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:34.639 It should come up on the screen for covenant. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:41.040 Covenant is a sacred relationship established by God in which God belongs to his people, and his people belong to him. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:43.600 It is a covenant. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:50.399 I do weddings, and one of the things I try to help people understand is this is not because weddings have kind of gotten off the reservation. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:51.439 I'm kind of an old man. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:53.040 Let me just be the old guy, okay? 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:58.240 Weddings have become a contest about who can be the most creative and post something on YouTube or Facebook. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:01.519 Uh and and and and it's your wedding ceremony, that's great. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:10.959 Uh but but but but if you want to understand covenant, a wedding was designed uh, and the purpose of a wedding service is to kind of communicate, hey, that this is a covenant. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:11.439 What do you mean? 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:13.519 Have you ever been to a wedding like a long time ago? 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:16.160 You'd come in the lobby and they would ask you, bride or groom? 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:17.120 Remember that? 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:20.399 What they were saying, and then they'd walk you in and seat you on one of the side. 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:23.839 In a covenant, when people in the Bible they didn't make covenant, they cut covenant. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.279 They would take animals, cut them in half, and they'd separate the halves. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:36.720 And then the two people making the covenant would walk between the two halves of the animals, and what they were saying was, may what happen to these animals happen to us if we break this covenant. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:42.639 That's why a wedding ceremony, they say, bride or groom, you're not separating families, you're joining these families together. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.439 And that's why they come down the bride and groom, come down the center aisle. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:48.079 They're walking between the families to bring them together. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.399 But what they're making is a covenant with God. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:06:02.079 And that's why anytime I do a wedding ceremony, I say to the congregation, before we get started, do you accept your sacred responsibility to speak out if you see this man or woman acting in a violation of the covenant they're about to make? 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:12.160 And everybody sobers up because the way the woman gets her husband to come to the wedding in the first place, to put on a suit and a tie, is to say there's gonna be a free bar at the reception. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:21.759 And so the man's sitting out there, and then I get up and kind of go, hey, sober up, we're about to get down to some life-changing baby-making business here, and they're like, oh, oh, boy, let me tie my tie for this. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:23.199 But that's what a covenant. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:28.399 If you want to understand, Exodus 24, God is saying to Israel, let's make this official. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:34.560 I'm gonna oath myself and a covenant with you, and that has a responsibility for me, but it also has a responsibility for you. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:37.040 Third word I want to give you is just character. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:38.000 Character. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:42.639 One of the things you'll see in the Bible today is that is that it's core. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.439 Worship is not about creativity, but about character. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:50.800 The ultimate question that's before us when we gather as the church is simply this: Who is God? 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:51.839 What is he like? 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:53.759 What does his character tell us about him? 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:55.279 And how should we approach him? 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:57.519 And on what basis do we approach him? 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:07.600 So just kind of take those three little statements, the three little words: content, covenant, character, lay them down over the first eight verses of Exodus 24, which reads like this. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:15.759 And then he, God said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abuhu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:21.839 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:30.639 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules, and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words that the Lord has spoken, we will do. 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:32.800 Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:38.560 He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:46.160 And he sent young men of the people of Israel who burnt who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:51.439 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he threw against the altar. 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:58.560 And they took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, All that the Lord has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:07.040 Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you, in accordance with all these words. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:12.399 Now, if you don't understand what's happening here, this sounds like an episode of Game of Thrones, okay? 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:17.839 Not that I watch that because I'm a Christian and I have three channels at my house and rabbit ears. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:19.360 Me, me, me, me, me, me. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:23.279 But if you read something like that, it's kind of like, that's kind of graphic and gory. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:24.000 No, no, no. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:25.120 That's kind of beautiful. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:27.360 That's the framework of worship, okay? 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:28.959 And go back to the very beginning. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:38.799 And he says in verse 1, and Moses, then God said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abahu, the 70 of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:40.639 Now there's kind of an oxymoron. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:44.080 God says, Come up to the Lord and yet worship from afar. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.279 You were not created by God to worship God from afar. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:58.080 Because after he says, Come up to the Lord and worship from afar, verse 2 says, Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:03.039 In other words, there's 73 people God invited to come up to the Lord, okay? 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:08.240 And and out of those 73, only Moses is allowed to come into God's presence. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.519 And the people, the masses, don't even think about it, God says. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:14.399 But God's making a statement here, okay? 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:18.240 And here's the first point in the two-point sermon this morning on Mother's Day. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:21.039 And it's simply this Jesus is necessary. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:23.360 Jesus is necessary. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:30.080 Because when God says, come up to the Lord, now, my wife and I were on a walk a couple weeks ago, and she said, Well, what are you studying these days? 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:30.799 What are you thinking about? 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:31.759 What are you praying about? 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:34.080 My wife, men, we should be better about this. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:36.399 My wife's always asking me what she can pray. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.960 She's always saying, basically, what are you thinking about? 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.600 Because I want to pray in keeping with what you're thinking about. 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:44.480 And I said, Well, you know, we're in Exodus and Exodus 24. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:46.080 There's this come up to the Lord. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:47.200 It's this invitation. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:50.000 And God asked them to do something that they can't do. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:51.600 Because he says, Come up to the Lord. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:53.600 Then he says, But worship from afar. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:55.759 Some of you here today, let me just pause. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:58.639 Some of you here this morning, you understand the worship from afar. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:00.480 Maybe it's been a while since you've been to church. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:01.919 Maybe you don't really enter church. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:03.039 Maybe you had a bad experience. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:04.480 Maybe you don't even believe in God. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:10.399 But there's something in you that's kind of like, just in case this may or may not be true, I want to cover all my bases. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:15.840 Let me just say to you, relax, because you were not created by God to worship God from afar. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:16.399 Okay? 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:19.120 It's kind of like if you've ever visited anybody in jail. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:20.960 Anybody ever visit anybody in jail? 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:22.240 I visit people in jail. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.639 I visited I visited some of you in this room in jail. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:25.919 Put your hands up. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:29.679 We talk between the glass on the phone. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:31.360 This happens all the time. 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:39.919 You see a woman there visiting her husband and they're on the phone, and then that the timer goes off, and the people are waiting, like, eh, you've been there seven minutes, you gotta go. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:48.080 And before they they put their hand up to the glass, and I've seen women lean up and kiss their husband with the big thick plexiglass in between them. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:50.799 That's not quite the way God intended it to be. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:51.440 Amen. 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:53.440 Can we just agree about that? 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:57.600 Can you imagine going home, making your husband stand outside the window and go, let's kiss? 00:10:57.679 --> 00:10:58.559 It's Mother's Day. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:02.159 And your kids kind of walk in like, what are y'all doing? 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.240 Is this what we got to look forward to? 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:06.159 No, thank you to marriage, okay? 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:07.519 Because that's what happens. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:11.120 God says, Come up to me, and then he says, Worship from afar. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:11.600 Why? 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:13.600 Because Jesus is necessary. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:15.120 What do you mean? 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:21.360 My wife and I had different experiences with the whole come up because when I was a kid, me and my brothers, we lived on a 10-acre farm. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:22.240 We raised chickens. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:23.600 We had 11,000 chickens. 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:26.399 My dad also worked at a power plant as a boilermaker. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:28.080 I didn't know what that was for the longest time. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:30.000 I knew my dad was a foreman. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:33.039 He was a boilermaker, and he didn't take no business, okay? 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:36.159 And every day my dad got home, he'd pull in, he would go in. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.240 I had the stepmom from hell, okay? 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:40.000 And so she was a tattletale. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:41.919 Anything we did, she would tell our dad. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:43.600 And my dad was old school. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:44.960 I never got grounded. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:46.559 I never got put in time out. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:48.399 I never even got talked to. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:50.000 I got asked two questions. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:51.200 What'd you do? 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:53.600 And then what'd I tell you to do? 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:56.240 And then it was all like conky dong, okay? 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:04.320 Uh so my dad would come home, get out of his blueford, pick up that black lunchbox, and just walk in there, and I could hear the theme music from the Wizard of Oz. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:06.080 Oh, yeah, oh. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:07.679 And they go in. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:09.600 We grew up in the contrary with white trash. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:10.799 We had a wooden screen door. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:12.080 Y'all remember screen doors? 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:16.960 And then the clock would start in my head and my heart. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:25.120 About two minutes, my dad, without his hand, he would kick the door open with his boots and he'd go, Mitch, Mitchell, Neil, come here. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:27.120 And this is the way we approached our dad. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:29.759 If that piano was my dad, we'd get about this far away. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:30.799 We'd go, Yeah, dad. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:31.759 He'd go, come here. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:33.440 Yeah, dad, come here. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:34.480 Yeah, dad. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:35.600 Get over here. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:40.879 And when my dad said, get over here, what he was saying was, if you don't get over here, I'm gonna get over there. 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:42.639 And so we would just go over there. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:44.240 And my dad was not abusive. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:45.919 Don't feel sorry for me. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:47.919 I was a little thug. 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.519 I know some of y'all are like, oh, that's your dad should. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:52.639 We'd get over there. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:55.279 And my dad be talking, and my dad, I hated this. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:57.120 He would thump me in the nose. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.480 Don't thump me in the nose because I'm gonna fight you, okay? 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:02.000 It takes me to a bad place. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:04.960 And it I'd be like, oh, oh, here's the thing. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:06.159 I knew it was coming. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:11.679 I'd be right there and I'd be watching his hand, and for a nanosecond, I would blink and like the mamba. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:13.759 Wow! He would thump me. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:14.720 What'd you do today? 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:16.320 And you had to tell him what you did today. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:19.440 And then after the thumping, you got another kind of thumping. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:26.559 Because my dad would just take his belt off and just my every once in a while, my dad would say this, I'm not making this up. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:28.799 Go give me something to whip you with. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:30.399 Okay. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:32.720 I go get a leaf off a tree. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:34.639 There you go. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:38.320 My idiot brother one day, my dad said, Go give me something to whip you with. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:41.519 I'm kind of like, Do you not have anything in the house stuff to whip us with? 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:43.519 Because my dad would just look around and grab stuff. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:45.440 My idiot brother goes over, looks down. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:47.840 There's a piece of garden hose sticking out of the ground. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:50.720 He grabs it and just pulls, see, that's about that long, my dad. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:51.679 That'll do. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:56.559 By the way, that garden hose wraps around and hits you on the side of the thigh right there. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:59.600 So we had like little, little, this was so long ago. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:02.559 I went to school and they said, Hey Neil, what happened to your leg? 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:04.320 And I said, Oh, I got a whipping. 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:06.720 And they all went, You probably deserved it. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:09.759 Where was CPS back then? 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:12.399 Here's what I'm saying to you. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:16.639 The idea of some authority figure saying to me, Come here. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:22.879 When I read in Exodus 24, and the Bible says, and God said to Moses, Come up to the Lord. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:25.440 I just picture myself sneaking up on my dad. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.159 Because I kind of knew I was going to get thumped. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.679 Some of you came to church this morning the same way. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:38.559 You were praying to God that I was going to talk about seven steps to being a more better mother. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:43.200 Five ways to maximize motherhood in the new millennium. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:49.519 That's up the street. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:52.399 I can tell you how to get there. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:57.840 Once the smoke settles, yeah. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:00.879 Don't make me meddle. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:04.000 You white people don't know that means, do you? 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:05.279 What is meddling? 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:08.159 See, Jesus is necessary. 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:08.639 Why? 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:10.000 By this simple invitation. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:11.039 Look at me, beloved. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:13.679 God is asking them to do something they can't do. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:16.559 He says, Come up to me, but worship from afar. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:17.039 Why? 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:19.279 Because they couldn't come running into God's presence. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:25.200 That's why I told you that one of the things that shapes what we do in public worship is, by the way, that's a baby. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:26.799 Y'all are all looking like, what is that? 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:28.000 That's a baby. 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:29.039 It happens. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:30.879 Remember when your baby would cry? 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:32.720 Don't look over there. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.720 Y'all are like, if you don't want us to look, why draw attention to it? 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:38.559 Because y'all are all doing this. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:44.879 Ma'am, when you get in there, just smoke them if you got them, okay? 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:47.919 Sorry, these church people are all staring at you. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:49.519 I remember our baby would cry. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:51.600 My wife tried to put her hand over the baby's mouth. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:53.679 I'm like, it looks like you're trying to offer our kid. 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:54.720 Don't do that. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.960 When I had the kid and they would cry, I would hold them up. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:01.600 Who wants a baby? 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:04.399 Who's thinking about starting a family? 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:07.679 All the men would be like, I'm good. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:08.720 Never mind. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:10.080 All right. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:11.360 Don't miss this. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:20.879 When God says, see, Jesus is necessary, by the simple invitation of God saying, come up to me, he was pointing out the fact that he said, Hey, you all can't come, but Moses can come. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:27.440 Why could Moses come and not just the other 72 people couldn't come, but all the people of Israel couldn't come? 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:29.600 Because Moses was a mediator. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:33.759 And see, he's pointing out already in the Old Testament, Jesus is necessary. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:41.039 Because we, in and of our own accord, as we are by just by nature fallen sinners, we can't come to God. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:42.000 We can't get to God. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:46.879 The Bible says in Isaiah 59, he says, God says, Hey, your sins have cut you off. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:49.120 They've separated you from God. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:17:03.679 And so Moses was a mediator, and then he went back and forth between God and man, and he reminds us that we need a mediator, someone to go to God on our behalf and do for us what we could never do for ourselves, which is why the Bible speaks of Jesus in these terms. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.759 In 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 5. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:15.440 For there's one God, and there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:18.319 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:19.440 I'm telling the truth. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:22.640 I'm not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:24.000 Now hear that again. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:32.000 You don't have to know a lot of verses of the Bible to be able to build a case against the insufficient logic of your friends who kind of got God figured out. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:38.240 Like I have friends that are like, well, I'm a good person, or you know, I hadn't done that much bad. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:40.400 And so I just take verse five. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:45.200 There's one God and there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:51.119 If there's one God and there's one mediator between God and me and the man Christ Jesus, people say, Well, I'm a good person. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:54.799 If you're a good person, why do you need a mediator between you and God? 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:57.119 And they always say, Well, I don't need a mediator. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:58.799 The Bible says that's not true. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:01.680 The Bible says that we all by nature need a mediator. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:03.119 Why do you need a mediator? 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:03.920 Well, I don't know. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:18.319 The Bible says, way back in Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve sinned, God said, one of the consequences of sin, he said to Adam and to the serpent, I mean to Eve and the serpent, he says, I'll put enmity, I'll put adversity, I'll put ill will between your seed and the seed of the woman. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:22.319 So who's gonna fix what's between you and God by nature? 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:23.920 Well, I don't know what you're talking about. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:32.000 And I always say, well, the Bible says, for there's one God, and there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:37.200 The Bible also tells us that by Jesus giving himself, he believed that he was setting you free from something. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:39.359 Why else would the Bible use the word ransom? 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.759 See, you don't have to know a whole lot of the Bible, but just a little bit of it. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:49.680 See, all through the Bible it kind of points out Jesus is necessary. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:59.279 So when when God says, come up to the Lord, he was just way back in Exodus 24, he was saying to you and I in 2016, Jesus is necessary. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:00.640 You need a mediator. 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:02.720 Otherwise, you're gonna worship from afar. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:04.079 You're gonna appreciate me. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:12.079 By the way, I've been a Christian 34 years, and Jesus is still necessary to as necessary to me today as he was the day I was converted. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:17.279 Ask yourself tonight before you go to bed, is Jesus still necessary in the way you do life? 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:19.759 Is he necessary in the way you spend your money? 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:22.559 Is he necessary in the way you think about marriage? 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:25.440 Is he necessary in the way you you think about children? 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:26.880 Is he still necessary? 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:34.000 Or is he being relegated like a yadro figurine to this place on the shelf where he's appreciated, but he's not necessary? 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:35.920 He's kind of an icon. 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.079 He's kind of a little statue over there. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:43.680 Yeah, everyone look at Jesus and thank Jesus for the biscuits, but we got it, Jesus. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:48.319 So what the Bible says, and what I'm telling you today is you don't got it. 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:51.039 That's horrible English, isn't it? 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:53.839 My wife's an English lit major. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:56.400 She's cringing in the lobby right now. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:57.920 So let me say it again. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:59.279 You don't got it. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:03.839 That's why Jesus is necessary. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:04.880 Look at me. 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:07.039 I don't got it either. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:09.680 Jesus is necessary. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.960 Second thing the text tells us this morning is that Jesus is enough. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:15.519 Look at verse 4, the latter part of verse 4. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:21.440 After it says Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord, it says he rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:23.359 By the way, look at me, beloved. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:29.839 If you don't believe Jesus is necessary, you better get up early tomorrow and start figuring out a way to get right with God. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:33.759 You better start soon or you better work late. 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:40.799 He says that Moses rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:46.559 And he sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.000 Now stop right there for a minute. 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:52.480 There's two kinds of offerings that are mentioned there: a burnt offering and a peace offering. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:54.240 Anybody in this room like barbecue? 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:55.359 Can I see your hand? 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:55.920 Yes? 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:58.240 You're gonna be glad you came to church today, okay? 00:20:58.400 --> 00:20:59.519 We'll get to that in just a minute. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:02.400 There's two kinds of offerings, see, uh, or sacrifices. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:04.240 The first one's a whole burnt offering. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:08.079 This is where they took a whole animal and they sacrificed it on the altar. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:09.279 And it was for atonement. 00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:10.640 It was to pay for people's sins. 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:13.920 It was to say, hey God, we've screwed up, we realize that. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.000 And so we want to make things right with you. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:21.759 One of the things you need to notice in the Bible is they always started with God and they worked back to the people. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:26.240 They always said, let's let's make let's get right with God. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:30.640 And so they always talked about the sacrifice that they put on the altar. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:32.559 The altar represented the presence of God. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:38.720 Before they had a tabernacle, like a tent they could meet in and have worship, or a temple, they had an altar. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.480 All through the Old Testament. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:44.880 Early on, you see people, and he built an altar, and he built an altar, and he built an altar. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:45.359 Why? 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:47.920 Because they wanted to commemorate and remind themselves. 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:52.880 And so there's two kinds of offerings mentioned a whole burnt offering, they sacrificed this entire animal. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:55.200 And then, secondly, there's what's called a peace offering. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:57.119 This represented peace with God. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.759 This whole animal was not sacrificed, they drank. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.119