Rejoicing in Our Relationship Luke 10:17-42

Rejoicing in Our Relationship with God Rather Than His Gifts

Well good morning everyone and welcome to Faith Bible Church. I guess we have a special hello to Jim Fisher, Jimmy, as most of us call him, and a shout out and a wave to you and wishing you well and for recovery, Jimmy, and we miss you and although your sign isn't always in the seat, we know you're there with us, so, but we just, our thoughts and prayers are with you today and always, okay.

For announcements today, prayer meeting this evening at six, summer Bible study continues on the 22nd at 5 30 going through Hebrews. Again, Penny is our missionary, Penny Hardin, that we support through BMW Biblical Ministries worldwide.

They're based in Atlanta, Georgia and many of you may not have grown up in a church, but a lot of missionaries, most missionaries, are supported through a core organization that kind of manages life here and they help provide the support and where the money's come from to send that back out into the field and so Penny's through BMW, not the car, but you can look them up and if you want to get a little background on that.

It's easy to remember, right, so be praying for her and her ministry with the deaf community in the Bay Area. She's based in Vallejo. I wanted to share this morning and Pastor does an excellent job of Bible or morning Bible study on Sunday mornings at 9 30.

I encourage you if you haven't tried it to come out, start your Sunday a little earlier if you're able, of course, but today it was Psalm 74 and in my Bible it has the main heading, a plea for relief from oppressors and even in their time, of course, this is David's time, written by Asaph, who is a worship leader, talks about pleading with God, you know, but then acknowledging God's role in God, his involvement in creation and what he's done over time and redeeming his people and caring for his people, but with that, in that in mind, I wanted to read Psalm 46 verse 1 through 3.

God is our refuge and strength, a very help, present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling.

Isn't that great to remember in this time, in this age of what we're going through in our country, in the world right now? It can be overwhelming to think and just to see things kind of deteriorate, but God is our refuge.

He will be there no matter what and Romans 8, 24 says, so we were saved, so for we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, but why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Likewise, the spirit also helps in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So we have the Holy Spirit with us always, no matter what's happening and even though we can't express our concerns and our fears and all that, we have the Holy Spirit there speaking, interceding for us.

Isn't that incredible? What a tool we have, what a blessing we have in the Holy Spirit and that's what we do this morning as we lift our voices, as we open his word that God made us for praise and for worship and that's what we do.

We're getting ready for heaven is what we're doing as I've shared before. So let's open it in a word of prayer. Lord God, we thank you, Father, that you have brought us here today. Lord, with all the troubles in the world and all the cares and even in our personal lives, Father, there's some that are really hurting, Father, and things that are unspoken, but Lord, you are in their midst, you are present with them.

Father, we pray that they would call upon you, that they would lean on you, they would trust you, Father, for your grace and for your mercy, Father. So bless them this day, Father, bless each one, Lord, that we can come together as we shared, Father, to give you praise, to give you glory and honor, for you are worthy of every ounce of what we can give you, Father.

So, Father, we pray that you would go before us this morning, we pray that you would bless those that are not here with us, Lord, like Jimmy, Father, that you would bless him and Venera and many others, Father, Lord, that are your children and we just rejoice with them, Father, and pray that they would be encouraged this day.

So, God, be with us now as we worship you in spirit and in truth and that you would just be pleased with our offerings, Father. So, God, bless our time today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. So, if you'd all please stand together, our first song is Behold Our God.

Again, we are here, our praise glorifies God and, you know, don't be bashful or afraid to lift your voice. You may not have the best voice in your eyes in the world, but God doesn't listen to our, the tone of our voice, he just listens to the heart.

So, sing from the heart and make this your song.

Good morning. Scripture reading for today is 1 Peter 1, 10 through 12. That's 1 Peter 1, 10 through 12. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.

Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven which things the angels desire to look into.

May God add his blessing.

To the reading of his word. We are all ministers by the power of the Holy Spirit to minister to.

Those around us. Let's stand together. Please turn with me to Luke chapter 10.

Verses 17 through 24. Luke chapter 10 verses 17 through 24. Then the 70 returned with joy saying, Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the spirit and said, I thank you father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so father, for so it seemed good in your sight.

All things have been delivered to me by my father and no one knows who the son is except the father and who the father is except the son and the one whom one to whom the son wills to reveal him. Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, blessed are the eyes which see the things you see.

For I tell you that many prophets and Kings have desired to see what you see and have not seen it and to hear what you hear and have not heard it. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we're thankful that we get to follow Jesus, not because of the authority over the dark domain that we're given, which is true, but rather that we get to know the one true God that we get to have fellowship with one true God and live and rejoice in it and help us to align our hearts to you rather than our own selfish desires in Jesus name.

Amen. So this passage picks up after Jesus commissioning of the 70 disciples, 70 followers. Some translations have 72. Um, and that's because there are various Greek manuscripts that exist either as 70 or 72.

Uh, but I don't think, uh, that's quite too important as to which one, uh, the point is that Jesus discipleship increased from the 12 being sent out to 70. What really shows is that Jesus ministry is not meant to be an exclusive club, but rather it's meant to be open to anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ.

Now, these 70 disciples actually returned are quite successfully. Their ministry was a success and they talk about it. And when they rejoice in the authority they had over even the demons, Jesus actually redirects them to rejoice in something greater and dare to rejoice in who God is rather than what he offers.

They are to rejoice in their relationship with God rather than the gifts from God. The center of it all in Christian ministry is one's relation to God. And this is really important this morning because it is tempting to chase after things from God rather than God himself.

When I, when I became a new Christian, um, I was just learning so many new things. It seemed like every sermon I was hearing was something I've never heard of before. But after a year or two, you get familiar with certain texts that are chosen to be preached more than once.

There are passages where you, you've heard before after a while. And me and my foolishness decided, you know, it's, it's, it's not good that I'm not learning anything new from this preaching. I'm not learning anything new from this sermon because my focus was on just the new knowledge of God.

Now, the knowledge of God is important and I think we need to all pursue that. But when that becomes the ultimate thing, I have misplaced my priorities. And this can be with anything. It can be with worship songs, right?

Oh, I only choose this church because of how the worship song makes me feel. Now, is it important for the worship song to be godly and God honoring? For sure. But that need not to be the main reason why you go to church.

In the end, Jesus focus here, the main reason ought to be your encounter with the living God. The songs that we've sang today fit really well. How can us sinners have a relation with the holy God? That's gotta be the main purpose that we gather here this morning.

There will be sermons in which the materials are repeated. I've repeated illustrations and applications before. I've repeated quotations before. I've repeated even certain texts before and at this very church.

But the reason why we gather here every morning is that we get to hear from God. We get to see the scripture unpacked. Even if it's for some of you, you might have heard this passage preached multiple times.

Yet you are here this morning because you get to encounter the living God through his word. When we gather, sing godly songs to each other, we get to experience who God is. That's the main purpose. The main point of this text is that Jesus' messianic ministry is powerful, but our true source of joy is our relationship with God through Christ.

Jesus' messianic ministry is powerful, but our true source of joy is our relationship with God through Christ. First, despite our greater authority over Satan, we rejoice in our new heavenly security in Christ.

Despite our greater authority over Satan, we rejoice in our new heavenly security in Christ. Last week, Jesus commissioned the 70 to proclaim the nearness of God's kingdom all throughout the regions in which he was going to visit.

Now they have returned and they're sharing their stories. Their stories of great deeds that they've seen. Now, then the 70 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.

They return joyfully because of their ministry successes. Under Jesus' authority, even the demons submit to his name without him being physically present. That is some authority. When I teach, there are kids who misbehave, but when the headmaster walks in that room, there's no peep.

That is because of his authority. He's a respected man and he wields a lot of authority, but that depends on his physical presence. With Jesus, only his name. Only you mention him and the demons submit to him.

What kind of man is he? Now, it is important to clarify that Jesus' name is not a magic word. We must not treat it that way. Just because you say Jesus' name doesn't mean you get everything you want. For example, in Acts 19, the seven sons of Sceva, Jewish men, sons above priests, they try to cast out a demon using Jesus' name, like a magic spell.

However, the demon has no effect. There's no effect of it. The demon, in fact, replies, Jesus I know and Paul I recognize, but who are you? Soon after, the demon overpowers all seven of them and they have to run away naked.

Now, the demons, when they submit to the disciples in Jesus' name, they're doing this because they directly represent Jesus. Right? The sons of Sceva were not representing Jesus. They didn't even know who Jesus was.

The disciples belong to Jesus. They are followers of Christ. However, the sons of Sceva were not followers of Jesus. They had nothing to do with Jesus other than they wanted to use his name to do ministry.

The disciples of Jesus minister under his authority and this is similar to just as a king's official would exercise kingly authority when accomplishing the king's mission, Christ's disciples work under his authority when accomplishing Jesus' mission.

The authority comes from the relationship with Jesus, not from a magic word. Now, in verse 18, Jesus reveals the nature, the true nature of his authority. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven and this is likely a reference from Isaiah 14 verse 12.

In one sense, that Isaiah passage is a direct judgment against the Babylonian king for its cruelty and destruction of God's people. Yet, in another sense, it is a judgment against who is actually behind that Babylonian king, Satan himself.

Ultimately, Satan is behind anyone and anything that challenges God's people and God. So, this is the passage from Isaiah 14, 12. How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations.

What Jesus is saying here is that Jesus himself witnessed Satan fall from heaven. He saw Satan's lightning-fast defeat, right? Fall like lightning is a figurative language to show that Satan was just kicked out immediately when he rebelled.

There was not really a fight, right? Satan really did not pose any challenge to God. He just fell like lightning. He didn't even stand a chance against God. And this is to explain what kind of authority Jesus' disciples are working under.

They're directly challenging the dark side. And this also hints at his, Jesus' pre-incarnate existence. After all, how could a man around in his 30s, right? Witness the fall of Satan, which happened thousands of years ago, right?

After creation, nearly almost right after creation. Then verse 19 further expands the authority granted to the disciples. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Now, this verse is not permission to start handling snakes during Sunday worship services. Rather, the snakes and scorpions actually represent the evil forces that oppose humankind. But not only that, oppose God, right?

They are the opposition. And for the first time in history, under Jesus' authority, humans in mass have a fighting chance against Satan and his demons. Not only a fighting chance, but an assured victory, right?

The evil forces can be defeated. They're to be trampled, right? That's fatal. Now, the word trample actually is deeply theological, because it goes back to God's promise in Genesis 3 .15, after Adam and Eve rebelled against God.

And it's a judgment against the serpent, who is Satan. God says, the offspring from Eve, a single offspring, would crush, trample the head of the serpent, while the head, the serpent, crushes the foot of the offspring.

One is fatal. The other is a wound. The offspring, of course, is Jesus. He is the woman's offspring, who would trample on the head of the serpent. And not only is Jesus victorious over Satan, but also his disciples as well.

By being part of Jesus' side, the disciples get to taste Jesus' victory with him. The coming of Christ sealed the end of Satan's reign. And Christ's disciples are not victims anymore, but they are victors in Christ.

In fact, this trampling language gets used in Romans as well, where it's applied to the church. The church will trample the head of the serpent. As Christ's body, we get to partake in Christ's victory, which was sealed when he died for our sin on the cross and rose from the dead.

Satan could have no power over anyone if he couldn't hold Jesus down. Now, despite such a great reason to rejoice and celebrate, Jesus focuses on something greater. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

For Christians, our true reward is not the authority and power, although that's really wonderful and great, but a relationship. Our true source of joy is not that the demons submit to us wherever we go, but that we securely belong to God because Jesus died for our sin and rose from the dead.

The idea that our names are written in heaven means that our names are written in God's book of life. This book is the census, right? The record of anyone who belongs to God's kingdom. And it records all who securely belong to him.

They are personally and permanently sealed and are known by God. They are ever so secure in God's protection and provision. And this is juxtaposed to Satan who fell from heaven like lightning. None of Christ's disciples will ever fall from God's secure grasp while the disciples will permanently belong to God.

Satan fell from heaven like lightning. That's a juxtaposition here. Now, this is important to talk about because you may know of Christians whose focus is on challenging demons or principalities. Nowhere in the Bible are we called to partake in a separate ministry of challenging demons and principalities.

Now, you're sent out to make disciples of all nations to proclaim the gospel that Jesus came to save by dying on the cross. And you might get spiritual attacks from that. But that's not the main point.

Fighting the spiritual attacks is not the goal of the ministry. It's the gospel spreading and making of the disciples. But you will see in some denominations and certain individuals, their goal is to directly oppose demons.

And they might scream, they might yell out things. And their goal is that how one day they might cast out even higher ranking demons as to know how they would know which one's higher ranking demon or not.

I have no idea. However, that's the misplacement of the true focus. The true focus ought to be on Christ by whose authority you challenge the kingdom of Satan. You challenge the kingdom of Christ by following Christ, not by you going out there or trying to encounter anyone who seemingly may be possessed.

Now for this church, I know, I don't think there's anyone at this church doing that. But for this church, there is still a temptation to focus on something, some part of ministry, rather than the focus on the one who sends us as ministers.

We may see countless souls trust in Christ because of our ministry. We may see many further commit themselves through baptism. And those are wonderful things to celebrate. But our greater, our daily greater reason to rejoice is that we belong to God through Jesus Christ's sacrifice.

In the best of days, in the most successful times of our ministry, our reason to rejoice because we belong to God, that we have a relationship with the living God, trumps any success that we may encounter.

One day, this hall may be filled with people. And that's a great thing to celebrate that so many want to hear God's word. And so many want to be disciples. But the true reason to rejoice is your personal relationship with God.

And that's something you have right now. And that's something you'll have tomorrow. That's the most important part of ministry. You may one day write a book, and that will bless the church. Your articles will be published in Christian journals, and they will immensely edify the body of Christ.

You may one day write a hymn or a Christian song that will richly praise the Lord all over the nations. However, even if that day comes, the true source of joy is not the new book deal, or how many churches sing your song.

Rather, it is the fact that you are received and loved by God. That God calls you his child. That God calls you his son and daughter. That you are eternally secure in Christ, and there's nothing that Satan can do to take you away because you're sealed in heaven.

That's the true reason to rejoice, because that is the most important part of Christianity. It's not what you end up accomplishing for God, but what Christ has accomplished for you. And compared to what Christ has accomplished for you, how can anything what we do be a source of a greater joy than Christ's accomplishment on the cross?

Jesus Rejoices in the Father’s Revelation to the Babes

Second, Jesus rejoices that his Father saves those who depend on him so that they may personally partake in his messianic ministry. In response to his interaction with his disciples, this time Jesus rejoices.

In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight.

This is another triune interaction that we see between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. The three persons of the Trinity, each divine, intimately interact with one another. This is not someone who's talking to himself.

We were, Carolyn and I were talking about that earlier, but rather there are three persons of the Trinity, and each member loves one another and talks to one another, works with one another. Now, God the Son, Jesus rejoices in the Spirit by praising his Father.

Right? The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, allows Jesus to give thanks to his Father because the Holy Spirit dwells in the Son. Jesus is never without the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit allows the Son to commune, to have relationship with the Father, and this is a divine delight.

This type of rejoicing is closely tied to the eschatological fulfillment of God's promises and salvation. It's not just a hint of happiness because you had a good day, but rather Jesus is thankful, grateful to the uttermost because he is seeing God's promises fulfilled in him.

The world is getting restored through him. The world that has been under bondage of sin and death and Satan is finally being freed in the person of Christ, and his disciples get to be a part of that. Now, the content of Jesus' praise and thanksgiving is that God the Father has revealed Jesus' messianic ministry to the unassuming, unskilled people rather than the arrogant elites.

Jesus knew that it was God the Father who was working through these 70 disciples because they themselves could not rely on their own power. They were not capable of relying on their own strength. Now, why else would they rejoice in verse 17?

That's because God worked through them, right? They had authority in Jesus' name. They were not rejoicing at their own power. Now, these men were not educated. These men did not have any authority in themselves.

These men were babes in faith. They had to completely depend on God because they knew they could not depend on themselves. Hence, God graciously provided for them. God graciously protected them. God graciously worked through them.

God graciously saved them. And this is really important because Christianity is not about having the highest level of theological education. It's about relationship with Christ and knowing his will through devotion to scripture, devotion to discipleship, devotion to the church.

At this church and also at a Christian school I teach part-time, people here and also students there don't have the highest theological education. They don't have the knowledge of Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic, the original languages.

But I've heard clearer gospel presentation from some of you here than those with PhDs at my seminary. That's because God works through the babes. God reveals himself, his message to the babes. And when I even mention some of the theological heresies really, just false teaching either here or even at school, you or even students there, middle school students, they're shocked that anyone could misread scripture that way.

What do you mean that Jesus did not die for our sin? What did he die for? Yet a lot of the PhDs in many seminaries struggled to find out what Jesus truly died for right out of the mouth of the babes. Now verse 22 further reveals the divine relationship between the son and the father.

All things have been delivered to me by my father and no one knows who the son is except the father and who the father is except the son. And the one whom the son will reveal, the one whom the son wills to reveal him.

Now this is an amazing passage, amazing verse that screams Christ's divinity. Many crooked theologians may perversely avoid seeing Jesus in this verse as God. Yet in this verse you cannot see Jesus as anything else but God himself.

Look at what Jesus is claiming here. First, God the father has given everything to Jesus the son. This includes authority, this includes power and glory. Now one may wonder how would this fit the Old Testament passage like Isaiah 42 .8, right?

I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not share my glory with anyone else. I will not share my glory with anyone else. Or the praise do me with idols. If Jesus were just a normal human being, Luke 10 .22 would directly contradict Isaiah 42.

How could God give all things to Jesus the son, but this is the same God in Isaiah 42 who claimed that he will not share his glory with anyone else. Jesus has to be God who is worthy of the divine glory and honor and there is in fact some some hints of this triune nature in the Old Testament.

Genesis 1, let us make men in our image. The very next verse, he made men in his image. Why the change? Plural to singular. One more, Daniel 7 .14. Daniel sees a vision, a heavenly vision. The thrones are placed.

Why does the heaven have multiple thrones if there is only one God? Perhaps we have a triune God. In fact, Jews to this day, they do not encourage reading Daniel 7 .14 without the guidance of an experienced rabbi because it does not make sense in their theology.

What really shows is that Jesus has to be God or God the Father would be sharing his divine glory with someone who is just a created being. God is making a creature into God which is idolatry. Either you have to accuse God of idolatry because idolatry is making anything that's not God into God or Jesus is God.

So naturally, he shares God the Father's divine glory. Second, the knowledge of God is exclusively restricted to the Son and the Father. This is important because mere creatures cannot understand who God truly is.

Yet, Jesus knows God the Father. Only the Son knows the Father. Not only that, the Father knows the Son. We get a glimpse of this triune relationship. Third, Jesus has the prerogative to reveal the Father to anyone.

You cannot know who God is without Jesus. And this is really similar to what the apostle John records in John 14 .6. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Anyone who claims to worship God but does not worship Jesus is worshiping a false God. This may sound harsh. This may sound exclusive. But that is what Jesus is saying. Only Jesus the Son can reveal the Father to anyone he wishes.

Without the Son, no one can approach the Father. No one can have any relation with the Father without the Son. What Jesus is saying, if you want to know God, approach the Son. If you want to meet God, look to the Son.

Jesus is the only way. We live in a pluralistic society where it is extremely, extremely offensive to claim that Jesus is the only way to God. But that is Jesus' claim. That's precisely what he's saying.

You can't know the Father without Jesus. You can't know the Father unless Jesus reveals the Father to you. You can't go to the Father without Jesus. And after the prayer, Jesus turns to his disciples to bless them.

Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear and have not heard it. Because the disciples can experience God's favor upon them, Jesus pronounces his blessing upon them.

The coming of Christ started a time in history in which all the great figures of God's people in the past looked forward to. Moses was one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament. He witnessed so many signs and wonders.

God talked to him clearly, not through visions and dreams. Yet the coming of Christ and his ministry is what Moses would have longed to see. King David was feared on the battlefield. In his youth, he could go against anyone, and he trusted that God would deliver, and he did.

God worked powerfully through him, and no matter who his opponents were, yet King David was looking forward to his greater son, Jesus. What Moses and David only dreamt of, the 70 unnamed, unassuming, lowly men experienced only because they knew Jesus Christ, only because they trusted in Christ.

And this is where we find ourselves this morning. We too, like the 70, are disciples of Christ, and we get to personally know God at a level that Moses and David longed for. Moses spoke to God face to face, yet he longed to experience God's presence that we do through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.

It's not that God dwelt among them. It's not that God did not dwell among them in the Old Testament. He did. The tabernacle, the temple, Mount Sinai, but it's at what intense level and intimacy does God dwell among us now?

Because what Jesus has done to take away our sin from us, so that the Holy God could dwell in each of you personally without you being zapped to death. That's a privilege. You don't have to go to me to find out what God wants you to do in your life.

You can go to God directly. You don't have to go to a prophet or a priest to hear from God. You can open up the Bible, and the author of the Bible who dwells in you will make clear what he wants you to know.

And some of you might have experienced it already. There might have been passages that were just so difficult to understand, but you went directly to God and asked, what does this mean, God? Through some way or someone, he's explained it.

It's because you have a personal relationship with God if you believe in Jesus Christ. What this means is that for Christians, if the Sunday gathering is just for the community where you feel loved, and you hang out with the people you like with the same political views, we're missing the point of Christianity.

The church is a great community, no doubt about that, but having a community cannot be the main reason why we gather every Sunday morning. For Christians, if the Sunday gathering is just for the emotional experience that you need during the worship music, we are also missing the point of Christianity.

Some churches try to cater to this desire by dimming the light, turning on the fog machines with the keyboard that doesn't sound like piano. I don't even know what instrument it sounds like, but it sets the mood.

As the pastor is praying, there are slow chords softly playing in the background, and you feel that emotional relaxation. However, that's not the main purpose of the Sunday gathering. For Christians, our main reason to gather to worship every Sunday morning is that we get to encounter the living God through Jesus Christ.

It is Jesus who graciously reveals his Father to us. It is Jesus who has graciously died on the cross so that you do have a relationship with God, that you're reconciled, that broken relationship is fully healed, that when you approach God, you don't have to be scared that there's a leftover wrath that would be poured on you, because every ounce of it was poured on Christ, his Son.

And Jesus draws his people to God, not because we're talented, not because we are pure, but because he is compassionate and loving. And every time believers gather in his name, it need not be even in this building.

It could be at a Bible study in someone's house, could be in someone's backyard for fellowship. You get to meet the God the Father whom Jesus reveals. And only in Christ you get to know God the Father.

Only in Christ you belong to the Father. Only in Christ you get to experience God the Father's love for you that goes beyond the love of any human father. The loyal love that does not leave his own daughter and son.

The loyal love that allows you, guarantees you to go forward into his throne room without any fear of judgment. The loyal love that allows you to go to him even in your sin so that you can confess knowing that he will compassionately forgive.

That's why we gather on a Sunday morning. You get to experience God yourself personally. That's what Moses and David longed for. And that's what Jesus was rejoicing about. You didn't have to be the high priest.

You didn't have to be a theological elite. You could be a theological babe in Christ and you could experience the fullness of God in Christ. And this morning, that is the biggest privilege that anyone has.

There is no other experience that's greater than the very experience of meeting God on a Sunday morning. Let us pray. Father, we're thankful that you have provided Jesus who died for our sin on the cross so that we may have a relationship with you.

That we can be fully reconciled through Jesus. And in the Holy Spirit, we can commune with you at any time, anywhere with anyone in Christ. Father, we pray that you would help us to experience your loving presence this morning.

That you would speak to us through your word and that you would make even our personal prayer time even sweeter knowing that we are speaking to the one true living God in Jesus' name.