The Land, the Tent, and the Altar

Well this morning we have only a few verses to consider. Of course last week we began

Chapter 33 almost to the very end and this morning we're looking at verses 18 through 20 so three verses that may seem rather insignificant, but the more

I've considered them and perhaps was encouraged to consider them in light of In light of what's ahead.

I've realized just how significant they are So I hope we can spend some time appreciating that together this morning by focusing on Three themes that we see three issues that we see within these three verses that being the land the tent and the altar now last week we

Saw this great moment of reconciliation between Jacob and his estranged brother

Esau Esau may not have originally had good intentions for Jacob You don't you don't write raise up 400 men to go march toward your long -lost brother.

You had vowed to kill Unless you have some less than noble intentions

But it seems like the Lord has delivered Esau and Esau knows that he has been spared

He's been spared not only from his brother, but from the Lord himself whom he wrestled the whole night in the end of chapter 32 so we've considered

Jacob and how he saw the face of God and was reconciled to his God and now

He's been reconciled to his brother. And so he says enigmatically To have reconciliation with you to find favor in your sight

Esau is like looking into the face of God Now last week.

I mentioned this widespread view Really? I am in the minority here rather uncomfortable place to be thankfully

John Gill who I Highly respect one of the great commentators of the Old Testament Lines up with what

I'm seeing. I mentioned a very widespread very popular view that after this great moment of reconciliation

When Esau is encouraging Jacob to come to seer to spend some time with him and Jacob seems to imply

Oh, yeah, I will but you know, I have to take care of the kids take care of the flocks You know, it's been a long journey.

My hips killing me But for the most part it seems that Jacob just ghosts him it's just kind of like see not doing that and then he goes to suck off and and as we have in our verses this morning from suck off to check him and the widespread view is that this is the

The old nature coming to the fore even after this great deliverance this great encounter with God Here's the slithering

Jacob going right back to his old manipulative ways Deceiving his brother and and there's no shortage of sermons and Commentaries that basically treat suck off as the beginning of Jacob's backslide

Now you'll get no No disagreement from me that in the intervening years and they would have been years that Jacob is in Shechem There is a level of compromise and corruption in the family of Jacob We're gonna see that next week in chapter 34 and and then the resolve the answer to that in chapter 35

But what I'm what I'm hoping to show you this morning is that this is no spiritual misstep

This is not the beginning of Jacob Backsliding that the way the whole of this chapter flows is to show just how much grace has triumphed in the life of Jacob It's claimed

Again against this view it is claimed that God had told Jacob to return to Bethel Bethel was a little further south of where he is and suck off and so Esau's heading southward and Jacob sort of stays and moves a little bit to the west and and the commentaries the sermons that say he's

Backsliding or taking a misstep argue. God had told him to go to Bethel. And so already he has half -hearted

Obedience and and we only see the beginning of compromise what they're referring to is chapter 31 verse 13

God says I am the God of Bethel where you anointed the pillar where you made a vow to me now arise get out of this land and Return to the land of your family

Now you'll notice that God never instructed Jacob to return to Bethel God simply said

I am the God of Bethel God said the the one that revealed to you that vision by night the the one whom you saw at the top of that staircase in glory

The one who made a covenant with you to be your God to be with you to protect you and bring you back safely

I am that God and now the time has come these 20 years of hard labor of being

Untwisted by my grace even as you're being twisted by Laban's treachery These 20 years have come to their end and now it's time to be reconciled to Esau now

It's time to take the mantle of the covenant that I've made with you. I'm the God of Bethel he's saying remember what

I covenanted to you and Remember the vow you made to me but notice the only instruction get out of this land return to your land.

That's the instruction So the first thing to say here is Jacob is not taking a misstep.

He's not losing faith. He's actually obeying God He's returning to the land.

We're gonna see that emphasized in verse 18 The whole flow of this chapter is showing that God's grace has done a perfect work in the life of Jacob So perfect that it's no longer possible for him to be called

Jacob. He's a new creation He's an entirely new man. It's been a hard -fought battle, but he gives

God the glory now He has been named Israel even as God's work in the life of Abram by the time

Abram had triumphed by faith No longer would he be called Abram, but Abraham no longer

Sarai, but Sarah no longer Jacob, but Israel The whole flow of this chapter are the lessons learned after Jacob has prevailed with God After God has delivered

Jacob and it ends with worship in the land in the promised land and So we want to have a really sharp break

Between the triumph of this chapter and the tragedy of chapter 34, which we'll come to next week

My concern here is to say Jacob is not backsliding. He's not misstepping. He's not walking in disobedience

He's actually doing the opposite of that We've just seen Jacob saying

I have enough I'm so content with the

Lord and his presence in my life and his purpose for me that you can have this blessing that I saw that I Twisted away from you when we were young brothers.

You can have that blessing back I have enough and as he limps from Sukkoth towards Shechem He's limping in spiritual strength and in godly humility

Now the time that we have I want to give a brief a brief glimpse of the significance of Jacob entering the land

This might be review coming out of Genesis 12 and that's okay. It's not burdensome to hear these things again

In fact, it's necessary as Paul could say Read the reading verse 18 then

Jacob came safely To the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan when he came from Paddan Aram First thing to notice is this little adverb safely then

Jacob came safely To the city of Shechem. This is the first clue that this is not a step of disobedience

But rather a step of faith that Jacob is understanding something of the significance of what

God had commanded him in chapter 31 This picks up the language of Jacob's vow from 28.

This is at Bethel right at Bethel Jacob made a vow saying if God will be with me and Will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear

So that I come again to my father's house in peace

Then the Lord shall be my God and this pillar shall be God's house

So that's Jacob's vow at Bethel in chapter 28 and chapter 31

God says I am the God of Bethel the God you made a vow to now it's time to go to the land of your family and Here we see this little phrase if you'll be my

God You'll keep me so that I come again to my father's house in peace now

The translation doesn't help us here, but it's the same word in Hebrew It's Shalom here in peace and Shalim which is just the the adverbial use that we have before us in verse 18 of chapter 33

We could read it this way. Then Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem So here's this little hint that Jacob is is purposely

Consciously fulfilling his vow to God you've been my God You've kept me in this way that I'm going and now you've brought me back to the land of my father's

You've brought me back into the land and the same way I made a pillar to worship you at Bethel We see at this chapter's end.

I'm making an altar to worship you again You are my God So all of the language of the vow in chapter 28 is repeated here at the end of chapter 33

God has been faithful to keep Jacob in the way and along the way he's humbled

Jacob As we said, he's grasped the grasper. He's Untwisted the twister and to such a degree that his name is now

Israel. So then the other question is why Shechem? Well, if we follow the popular sentiment

Shechem is a trade city fat cattle. It's booming and you know, all of a sudden he's compromising

He's taking a step toward wealth and prosperity And and it's gonna cost him so much in the life of his family in the next chapter

This Shechem is just it's just the desire like Lot had for Sodom No, no, no.

No, I can't read it at all that way Why Shechem? He has just gone from saying

I have enough you can even have the blessing back see 20 years of practical Slavery under Laban all the wealth that I've gained.

It's yours. I want you to have it. I have enough How does he go from that to saying?

Oh Shechem looks like a really good place to gain How does he go from I have enough to having such discontent discontentment that he refuses to go to Bethel and he dwells in Shechem, I don't read it that way at all

So why Shechem? Well if he's consciously fulfilling the vow

That he had made to God at Bethel part of that vow is taking up the language of God's covenant with Abraham When Jacob fulfills his vow and he enters into the land of Canaan He's consciously taking the

Abrahamic covenant into effect He is now the heir of this covenant of Abraham.

He's now walking in Front of underneath the God of Abraham Isaac and now

Israel So why Shechem? Jacob is consciously retracing the steps of Abraham When God called

Abram Out of the land of the Chaldeans when God called Abram and he left

Haran He left the land of his relatives. He first entered into Canaan and dwelled in Shechem So Jacob is not taking a sidestep and he's not led by his flesh to go to Shechem He's led by the prospect of what he now is

God is his God and he has enough and now it's time for me to walk in the faith of my father's

It's time for me to dwell in Shechem as Abram dwelt in Shechem so he's retracing the steps of his godly grandfather and Again, just like his godly grandfather

There's going to be an ungodly influence in the in his life in the life of his household and that's going to lead to the

Tragedy of chapter 34 and then from Shechem God will say it's time to go to Bethel Just like Abraham went from Shechem to Bethel So the first thing to see is

Jacob is Consciously repeating the activity of Abraham when he entered into the promised land

Jacob came in peace safely To the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan now it is hard for us to convey how important the land is as A theme in Scripture on the one hand, it's very hard for us to appreciate how significant this territorial dimension of the land would have been to the ancient

Israelite mind to the mind of the contemporaries of Jesus and Far more significant when the temple was standing in the land

It's hard to convey that importance. I think it's somewhat watered down for us It's very hard for us to appreciate the significance of that God given territory on the one hand

But on the other hand, it's very hard to escape the influence of modern distortions about the land

That have made I think errors in emphasis and have also had all sorts of Unfortunate effects in the in the political situations in that land

One reason we miss the deep connection is just from our translations our translations are

Our tools right every translation is a betrayal in some sense We often have very different concepts to land and earth

This is something I brought out in Genesis 12 when we read the land we can think of a specific

Geographical region when we hear earth we tend to think of the globe, but this is a modern distinction

It would have been the same word with potentially the same connotations Land or earth and then the land of or the earth of whatever region you want to speak of there's no difference

In fact, there's this deep connection between the land So when we hear something like God made the heavens and the earth

There'd be no difference between that or God made the heavens and the land You see again the significance of this word earth land.

We don't want to think of a globe and the land is something different Now the reason this is important is because of where?

Genesis and the story of Abraham Isaac and Jacob fall in light of God's Redemptive work from the very beginning of scriptures to its appointed end to the vision

We have of what will be in other words from God's creation To man's fall and rebellion against God to the very beginning in Genesis 3 15 of God's promise that he would bring

Redemption that he would undo the fall that he would conquer man's rebellion and restore his dwelling place in the land

With his people that is the the story of scripture in ten seconds so the land as Owen Martin reminds us is the place where God's creatures his image bearers know him

Live under his lordship and fulfill his purposes in what he's created That is no different at the beginning of Genesis than it is at the end of Revelation That there is a land a place in which

God dwells with his people who are made after his image So that they will fulfill his purposes

Within what he has made the importance of the land then does not begin with the

Abrahamic Covenant It begins all the way back in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve as a result of their sin lost the land were cast out of the dwelling place of God and if we miss that connection between the beginning of Genesis and Jacob re -entering the land then we're going to distort all sorts of things

Long before Israel ever lost the land due to their sin and were brought out in exile were reminded that Adam and Eve lost the land and were sent in exile due to their sin and yet God brought them back

Just as God brought Jacob back the one who had been exiled from the house of his father due to his sin now he

Returns Now he's brought back in peace to the land.

And what does he do when he enters the land? He worships the Lord God That's how significant this passage is before us

There's so much I want to say on this point, but there's somewhere we're going and I want to connect the land to worship

But at least let me say this because we're coming up to it in the next point The significance of the land was not lost upon Jacob and yet it was not made more

Than it was ever meant to be when I say Jacob is repeating the footsteps of Abraham I mean that in more ways than one not only is he literally following the path of Abraham physically

But he's also following the path of Abraham spiritually He re -enters the land as the place of God's dwelling presence

But when he enters that land he does not make that land as the ultimate hope He does not say this is now where the city must be built.

But like Abraham as we'll see He puts his faith in a city whose builder and maker is

God When he enters the land he does so as a pilgrim as a sojourner as his father's did

Blessed are you we read in 1st Chronicles 29 Lord God of Israel our father forever and ever yours

Oh Lord is the greatness the power the glory the victory the majesty all that is in heaven and in Earth in the land is yours yours is the kingdom.

Oh Lord You are exalted as head over all both riches and honor come from you and you reign over all in your hand is power

And might in your hand it is to make great and to give strength now therefore our

God we thank you We praise your glorious name, but who am I? Who are my people?

That we should be able to offer so willingly as this for all things come from you and of your own we have given you

We are aliens pilgrims before you as were all our fathers when the

Israelites were in the land if they were to look at the land the way that Abraham Isaac and Jacob did they would have this confession.

We are aliens Pilgrims in this land as were all of our fathers our hope is not in this land but what in this land points to a dwelling place with God that has

Foundations a place that we will dwell securely and eternally with our

God These Hebrews 11 these all died in faith Not having received the promises but having seen them far off Far off from Jacob far off from Israel and Yet they were assured of them.

They embraced them. They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth

For those who say such things declare plainly they seek a homeland and Truly if they had called to mind that country from which they came out

Haran Padan Aram, Egypt They would have had opportunity to return but now they desire a better that is a heavenly country

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. He has prepared a city for them

So we see the significance of the land for Jacob, which I'm saying

We need to turn the volume on we need to have deeper and more sensitive appreciation for but at the same time

There are certain ways of looking at the land that are popular today that we need to actually avoid That actually make the land more than it is meant to be more than it would have been for Abraham Isaac or Jacob Earlier, we read the writer of Hebrews explaining that Abraham dwelt in the land as if it were a foreign country

He comes out of a foreign country Into the land this is meant to be the homeland you you think he's gonna bust out whatever the flag of Canaan looked like And sing this is my land

But he dwells in it like it's a foreign country Apparently he wasn't looking for this as the land and then

Stephen says in his great sermon from Acts 7 God gave him no inheritance in it not even enough to set his foot on Which is to say that he was not looking for the inheritance in that land at that time

He was looking for the inheritance to come The inheritance that would come through the seed that God had promised him the seed that had been promised all the way back in Genesis 315 the seed that would come and crush the slithering serpents head the seed that would come to be heir of the earth of The world and if we miss the translation in Hebrew Paul gets it in Romans 4 in Greek That he would be the heir of the world

So then the fulfillment of the land promises Must be viewed as arising from this fulfillment of God's people awaiting

The land that God will give them the city that God will build which John depicts as a city whose builder and maker is

God a city which is the temple a new heavens in a new earth which descends upon us in The Old Testament we could see it this way in the

Old Testament God created the place and then he put his people in it literally planted

He creates the Garden of Eden and then he plants his people in it So place and then putting the people in it

But in the New Testament God creates his people and then creates the place for them

And that's the error that we are he has made us new creations He has made us pilgrims and sojourners and we await to be put in the place of his designation a city that he will build

Where he will dwell with us and we will see him face to face And that is why

Paul could say That those who belong to Jesus are Abraham's seed heirs according to that promise

That's our inheritance We're heirs of the promises that God has given here to Jacob promises of the land

Jacob is as we are waiting by faith for the fullness of this promise to come

No wonder that Jesus could say in John a Abraham rejoiced to see my day

Jacob rejoiced to see that day He could see it. He was glad Now why am

I saying so much that he's walking in the spiritual path of Abraham Well, it comes really out of verse 18.

And if we miss it, it's emphasized by repetition Remember in Hebrew you you emphasize something by repeating it this is verses 18 and 19 and he pitched his tent before the city and He bought the parcel of land where he had pitched his tent from the children of Hamor Shechem's father for 100 pieces of money

So this is why he's retracing not only the steps of Abraham, but the faith of Abraham What Jacob does here not only in entering the land and dwelling in Shechem is imitating

Abram But also quite literally imitating Abram from Genesis 12 verse 8 pitching his tent and then building an altar

Abram's own living quarters, which were impermanent they were cast as a tent are in contrast to the construction project of God's worship a

Permanent altar where God will be served and so just like Abram pitches a tent

It's temporary but builds an altar Jacob enters Shechem He pitches his tent which is temporary

But builds an altar to show that the worship and service of God will remain

But he himself dwells as a pilgrim in this land And again, we're reminded of the contrast between the

Babel builders of Genesis 11 The Empire builders of our own day we see that the patriarchs were very different because they were seeking

God's face and they were walking in God's way and So we see the capstone of Jacob walking in the faith of Abraham in verse 20

He erected an altar and he called it El Elohe Yisrael God the

God of Israel There's a few different ways to look at that. You have

L repeated L L and then you have a Construct Elohe Yisrael his new name

So it's quite literally God God of Israel. This could be what we call an equative phrase

So God is the God of Israel or the God of Israel is God It's probably most likely there's also a gloss of the

God of Israel is mighty. It's a it's a Latin that comes out of the Septuagint and it's also in the

Latin vulgar Calvin seems to favor that one. I think it's better to say the God of Israel is

God and Again, this is picking up the language of the vow at Genesis 28 If you will keep me in the way if you will protect me and provide for me you will be my

God And here he fulfills his vow and he builds the altar and he says the

God of Israel is God He's essentially saying you are my God you have fulfilled what you promised me and Therefore I worship you

Jacob enters the land just like Abram He pitches his tent just like Abram.

He builds an altar just like Abram He declares to the pagan worshiping Canaanites just like Abram that there is one true

God and that he must be worshipped It was at Shechem that God gave his promise of this land to Abram Before that it was just the direction to come out of his father's house into the land

I will show you when he comes to Shechem He says look around you look north look south look east look west all this land

I'm giving to you walk about it. See it. No, I'm giving it to you and When Abram enters the land wherever he goes and dwells even for a moment

He takes the time to build an altar and he starts marking this territory by the worship of God It's a defiance against the

Canaanite society of the time It's a declaration that God has dominion over this place and is therefore to be worshipped

And so we read of Abram in Genesis 12 there he built an altar to the Lord and he called on the name of the

Lord And we're reminded of this phrase to call upon the name of the Lord is to go back to the

Sethite line Remember this division after the fratricide of Abel the one who had worshipped

God in a fitting way his blood speaking better things And then Seth was the one that God's redemption was working through and it was that Sethite line

Where we read men began to call upon the name of the Lord. In other words, these sons of Adam began to worship

God Corporate worship instituted worship all the way back in the days of Seth The only other time we have that kind of language instituted another description of the altar before Abram is in Noah coming out of the ark building an altar calling upon the name of the

Lord continuing that line of Sethite worship and Then with Abraham building these altars calling upon the name of the

Lord and now Jacob as his heir building an altar Calling upon the name of God.

Do you see this thread of continuity? And God has been winnowing out

Throughout all the the burgeoning growth of humanity of people that will know him and serve him and worship him in spirit and in truth

This was corporate worship Jacob Jacob would have had his maidservants his family members his household around him

His children over these years would have been growing up into those awkward teenage years

When he first came to suck off so many of them were four five six eight nine ten

But now they're growing And they're at this altar and shechem and they're worshiping and we're gonna see

Compromise in the next chapter as they get older and as the influence of Shechem permeates their lives, but but we don't want to impugn the character of Jacob at the end of chapter 33

As far as he concerns there is one God worthy of worship It is the God of Israel the God who made this covenant

The God who is strong and mighty the God of Israel is God and that brings us really to our whole emphasis

Which we'll do by application this morning When God brings

Jacob back into the land and as we've said we're keeping in mind this greater

Rhythm of God's redemption of Adam and Eve being brought out of the land of God's dwelling due to their sin

Abram being called into the land of God's dwelling due to God's grace Jacob who is

Israel being cast out due to his sin But now graciously brought back and again this will Pete as Israel's quite literally dragged out

But graciously brought back and so you get again this imagery of sins

Casting us from the presence of God's dwelling and yet God's grace Bringing us back and all of that is connected by the significance of the altars

It brings us to see the significance of God's worship That the reason that God has singled out of people to know him the reason that God has set aside a special possession

The reason that God has called people out of many tongues and many tribes is to be set apart for his worship

We are not saved

Because we're so lovely We're not saved set apart Sanctified made like unto him because he just couldn't help himself.

He was so unhappy and incomplete without us He is eternally blessed

He is utterly satisfied in himself and needs nothing to be who he is

He is always content always satisfied with his own glorious attributes

And so then why save us? So that he can bring us into the delight of his worship that we can experience something of his own

Self -delight that we can be brought by his love in to this glorious privilege of worship.

I Love what Thomas I think it was Thomas Goodwin. I always mix up. There's so many Thomas's that are Puritans But he said worship is the highest act that we can do religiously

Worship to praise God is the highest act and he reasons this way Some might say prayer that that prayer is that bridge between this earth and the earth to come that that prayer is the

Vessel between heaven and earth itself that that prayer makes us more like unto our

Savior and then Goodwin would say Ah, but worship makes us like unto the angels in Praising God we experience something of the reason we were made

Borrowing from the Westminster Shorter Catechism to enjoy him

That's why we were made if I had to shorten what it means to glorify and enjoy him

I would just use the word worship We were made to worship What is worship?

Worship is essentially the giving of glory or praise or honor to God And we're gonna be unpacking this in the broadest sense of the word according to George Swinnick Godliness is worship in the broadest sense

Godliness is worship the giving of glory praise and honor to God.

That's one of many possible definitions Worship comprehends all this is

George Swinnick all That respects man all that man owes and all that man gives to his maker

It's the tribute that man pays to the king of kings We acknowledge therein his sovereignty over us our dependence upon him all that inward reverence and admiration

All that outward obedience and service to God Everything that that word godliness enjoins is included in that one word worship

So three applications as we consider the significance of worship Why first of all why?

Worship, why do you worship? The first and most important thing to be said about worship is that it is to honor

God The first and most important thing to be said about worship is that it is to honor

God if We do anything short of honoring God. We are not worshiping

We might come to a place That is called a worship center. We might come at a time where there's something called a worship service

We might do the very things that we call worship But if God is not being honored,

I assure you we are not worshiping God is not being worshipped where God is not being honored

But at the same time and this is the sort of beauty of answering the question why do we worship

In honoring God God is pleased to give something to us. I Love what

CS Lewis says this is from his book reflections on the Psalms and he never read that he spends sometimes admitting his struggle

As a young believer who was still going to services and yet very much struggling and as he was reading the

Psalms struggling with how For lack of a better term vain God seemed to be

He said, you know the things that God Requests of his people we would we would see as false vices

Things to be disturbed by in other people this desire to be praised to be admired to be spoken of you know to be seen

You know if someone else comes out in that way we find that somewhat off -putting

We sort of had this what I could call an Australian reflex Australians are notorious for being no respecters of persons.

I have a Professor dr. Pennington who always laughs because he says, you know, there's such a cultural divide.

I go to Singapore and I'm the Honorable Reverend dr. Pennington and you know, I'm spoken of very solemnly and then

I fly down to Australia and I'm Penzo All right Penzo come up here in lecture, you know, no respecter of persons, but here's

God in the Psalms and he's saying, you know Speak of me Declare my testimonies.

Look at my wondrous works and deeds You know glorify me praise me. Give me give me your all give me do adoration

And C .S. Lewis was struggling with this wrestling with this. How can that be good when it's so awful in us?

But then he began to recognize that it's because of God's supreme value that it's only right

That he be worshiped that in fact We are always engaged in worshipping things that are of value when we find something of value we cannot help but Express its goodness express its wonder try to get others to see it to testify about it sing its praises now if that's true of earthly things that we deem relatively valuable, how about the the infinitely valuable

God and So he began to work this out in this book reflections on the Psalms and he also recognized that in worshipping

We actually receive something he says it's in the process of being worshipped that God communicates his presence to men

The command to praise is not just so that God can receive something honor that he is due

But it's actually bound up with the very giving of God himself We've certainly seen that haven't we?

If anything God gives himself before we're even led to worship that was that's what Jacob experienced in Genesis 28

He was just trying to catch some sleep on that stone God opened up this glorious vision that brought

Jacob to a place where he felt compelled to worship. We receive

Something in our worship and it's part of the reason why we worship the danger is that we only come here in order to receive

We don't come here to honor God first and foremost In other words, we take away the objective of worship and in its place put the benefits

We come for the benefits of worship. I'll be encouraged for the week You know, I haven't seen some people in a while, you know, it'll feel good.

I know I'm supposed to you know I'll receive some instruction. There's some questions. I have it'll be good to fellowship.

Maybe the Swedish meatballs will be there today There's all benefits to coming together to worship But the benefits are not the objective.

The objective is to honor God and I dare say When our objective is to honor

God our worship will look very different When everyone's goal here is to come in order to honor and revere

God our worship ought to look very different We come to know

God in worshipping him. He gives himself to his worshipers This is part of the delight of the psalmist he's in rapture

He can't help but describe the wonder of God because that's what he's receiving as he praises God That's what he's receiving from God as he worships

God He knows something of the character of God. He can't help but glorify the holiness of God He can't help but poetically describe his delight in the attributes of God.

He loves the perfections of God He's absorbing the the commands in the will of God. He delights to do that will he strives after the way of God This is all the outflow of worship

It's a sad thing in the Christian life when we're trying to build our way toward these things Hoping that worship will be at the end of all these efforts and musterings and strivings in the flesh

You got to do this and delight and think about his attributes and eventually I'll be led to worship No worship is the foundation for all of that Worship is where you start you praise

God and are constrained to delight in his will Are led to absorb his word to to to glorify the beauty of who he is

To be lost in the awe of what he's done worship is the starting point Brothers and sisters

God's honor must be the greatest pursuit of our worship. Not the benefits of our worship We ought to come to worship with a desire to have elevated thoughts about God It's part of what it means to honor you elevate your thinking you elevate your regard.

That's how you honor So we consider our practice and how we approach worship how we are even this very moment

Are we lifting up our minds opening up our hearts to the honor of God do we do it in our music and Just because it has the vine doesn't make it automatically reverent just because it's something that was written two years ago

Doesn't mean it's irreverent But I think we can say there's been a trajectory of shallowness in the theology of church music in the theology of worship that the benefits

Have been more front and center the me my I Have been more focal in the music than the honor of God And so we recognize in order to elevate our thoughts of God in order to honor him in worship

We cannot approach true worship unless we do so humbly Calvin says humility is the beginning of worship

That's a profound statement Humility is the beginning of worship men will never worship

God. He says with a sincere heart They'll never be aroused to revere and obey him with zeal

Unless they properly understand just how indebted they are to his mercy

Humility is the beginning of worship Worship is an act of understanding

God in a way that it constantly causes our minds to be brought upward to the magnitude of of what he's done for us and Beyond that to the magnitude of who he is and in being elevated in this way

We become worshipful. We begin to utter praise We begin to be lost in the wonder of our relationship with him and what he's given to us

Worship is not only an act of the understanding, but it's also an act of the will

This is what Stephen Charnock says is from a sermon. He did on worship from John 4 He says it's an act of the will whereby the soul adores and reverences.

His majesty embraces His goodness enters into communion with him as the most lovely object pitches all affections upon him

You see it's an act of the will We're not here to wait for the zap. It's an active labor

We come and say Lord help me as I'm being led to Distraction as my mind's wandering

Lord help me to be active in working toward honoring you to being reverent toward you toward fixing

My mind and my affections upon you do not let me leave this place without your blessing I will not let you go in worship until you bless me when we define worship in this way you realize

That without the Spirit of God, it's not possible to worship No wonder Jesus could say the Father is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and truth

What ought to be the most profoundly? spiritual engagement of our week

Sadly can become one of the most mundane. We don't strive for the spirit to move to work

To fix We don't prepare our hearts to worship

God in this way of honoring him and receiving from him We can pretend that this is only true of worship outside of reformed circles, but fatally that's not the case at all in fact

I I think we can honestly say there's something more of true worship outside of reformed circles often

Because in reformed circles people come for the equivalent of a lecture More information to check my little footnotes in my study

Bible when I get home and that's not worship It's it's not a class.

It's not filling in gaps of our understanding. It's not a raw mere duty

It's it's a spiritual act whereby we are honoring God and receiving from his spirit

Something of who he is in this self giving act of worship as we give ourselves to him

He reveals something of himself to us and it's a labor. It's a fight It's a struggle and I wonder have we ever truly worshipped if we have not experienced that struggle if we do not

Struggle and strive to truly worship God in this time that we're gathered together. Are we even close to the heart of worship?

Do we have what the Puritans would call a dead service? Evangelical worship gospel centered gospel fueled worship is spiritual filled with praise joy

Delight zeal motivation trepidation Conviction humility we approach

God First perhaps out of the the frailty and weakness of our flesh

But as we praise him we find strength and we're able to strive with him Waiting for that blessing to come we come to him perhaps trepidatious as those far off but in worship were brought near we come to Him in a gospel frame.

We find ourselves clothed dressed with a fatted calf to feast upon spiritually speaking We we encounter

God as prodigal children every Lord's Day and there ought to be that same wonder and awe in the light that we've

Been brought into this relationship and into this presence with this glorious restoration ahead of us

If we come to worship for anything less than that joy that pleasure that satisfaction

We do dishonor God you picture that prodigal son sitting around the feast

You know just uninterested disengaged distracted Would that not be?

Tragically dishonoring to the father who had closed him embraced him brought him in So this is why we worship we worship because of who

God is we worship because this is what we were made to do And if we were made to do it, then there is no greater completion

No greater wholeness or satisfaction in life than to worship him and enjoy him by worshiping him now practically

So that's why but practically before you worship. So kind of saying big picture why now

Approaching before you worship and then we'll close with as you worship like what we're doing and what's ahead of us as we do it

So second application before you worship entering worship approaching worship

When Jacob entered into Shechem I'm saying he was conscious of the fact that he was retracing the steps of Abraham He had every intention of like Abraham pitching a tent saying this land is not the city that God has promised

I'm looking by faith as Abraham looked by faith and yet what I will build is what Abraham built an altar for the worship of God And so we we detect something of the approach to worship.

He had a plan He had a purpose it would have taken some effort some time to arrange the means for this worship

To dig up the stones to hue them to shape them to find the place and prepare the foundation

It would take some time for Jacob to be able to worship Appropriately and recognize that what was driving him was this sense not only of humility, but also adoration worship as Adoration HH Rowley who wrote a book on the worship of ancient

Israel says this the first element in worship is adoration So we said the beginning

Calvin is humility, but the first element of it. This is Rowley adoration The Hebrews expressed this in their posture not just by their words they prostrated themselves before God They never approached his presence with an easy familiarity

They were always aware of his greatness and majesty there was an awe and a privilege in coming to his house

He might say well Of course there was Weren't the disciples amazed, you know at the end of John's gospel.

They're like look at this. Look at this place Have you ever seen anything like this? Weren't they amazed because of the grandeur of the temple

I mean if I was brought into that place at that time the priesthood and all their glorious array the

Sacrificial animals the decoration that God had had instructed his people with just the glory of it one of the wonders of the world

Josephus to describing that that shining marble and gold just just radiating from from tens of dozens of miles away

Well, I will be reverent too I would come in With awe and a sense of privilege and and I would have no familiarity if I could enter a temple like that But God's not seeking you to enter a temple like that.

God is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth and I can assure you that there were

Covenanters in the 17th century who were meeting at a random oak tree in a field to worship God that came more reverently more expectantly than some

Israelites did in front of Solomon's temple Why? Because they were worshiping in spirit and in truth

They were led to approach reverently. They understood everything that was involved in this act

They labored to bring reverence to God and what they received from him is far greater than what we expect

It's one of the reasons we don't approach with reverence or adoration We don't make it an act of our will but rather we become passive spectators

We're just here to sit and receive Are you at this moment actively engaged in honoring

God in? Allowing his word to sort of bring your mind open in spontaneous praise and in awe to him

To be led in prayer throughout the service Is it an act of your will a

Conscious act of your will that you are serving the Lord Jesus Christ in your worship this morning

Such as the generation of those who seek him who seek your face

God of Jacob, they will receive blessing from the Lord I know what it's like to spend week after week coming to a service, but never actually seeking the face of the

Lord And I shouldn't be surprised if week after week. I don't leave with a blessing We recognize as soon as we say this that worship is something that we enter into not solely but corporately

Just to say we're entering into worship is to say we're entering into worship together So I'm emphasizing your will your activity your labor in worship

You're doing so as an individual before God and yet you're entering into worship corporately I won't spend a lot of time on this point, but it's part of the beauty of God's design for worship

You have a part to play in the worship of this assembly We're a smaller part of the greater panoply of God's worship this morning not only connected to our brothers and sisters throughout the world that are worshiping

God with many different languages and tongues, which is profoundly beautiful It's easy to say

I actually several weeks ago. I I was on a zoom meeting with a few students in different parts of the country each coming from different Ethnicities and when they closed in prayer, he said, you know, if you don't mind, we'll just let's just all pray in our mother tongues

It was just it was beautiful Didn't pick up anything but a lot of Jesus and those prayers

But it's just beautiful It was a reminder to me of yes You know,

God is being prayed to and worshipped throughout the world from every tribe and tongue We recognize that though we come as individuals

We come in this body and this body is part of many bodies and those many bodies are part of the great heavenly body

That is presently worshiping the Lamb We enter into the assembly of the angels that are praising

God How much that ought to elevate our worship how much that ought to make us reverent and diligent

Solemn and humble as we approach God's worship We approach not passively but actively

I was glad when they said to me let us go to the house of the Lord You gotta have that feeling in the parking lot.

I'm glad we're going into a house of the Lord We're going into a place of worship. We don't even own this place.

It doesn't really matter where you meet It matters what you're doing where you are. I Will bless the

Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth This would be a prayer for you to have during the service

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear of it and be glad Oh magnify the

Lord with me Let's exalt his name together Do you sense something of what's going on in this worshipper?

That joy of worship is contagious. Are you seeing this? It's like, you know, you see people in a sports stadium in some event

They they can never be an utter individual in the celebration of that event when they're awestruck by what took place on the field

They have to involve the people around them. Did you see that? Can you believe that? That's what the psalmist is saying

Let's exalt him together. Are you seeing this? Are you getting this? Isn't this amazing? This is what we covenant to as members of this church

We read this on Monday night among the men one of the one of the things that stuck out to me a little phrase That I don't know if I've ever noticed it before I'm separating a little bit, but in the second part we commit to advance this church one of the things we commit to advance the church in is its spirituality

I Come here, and I'm committed to advance this church and her worship in spirituality

That this is not just walking off the street and back onto the street on this plane of existence

But just like Jacob at Shechem There is something of the heavenly realm

Interpenetrating what we're doing this morning Jeremiah Burroughs one of the great

Puritans wrote a wonderful work called the gospel worship tremendous I wish we could have three months just to go through it together

He says it's not enough for you to come and sit in a pew and have the sound of a man's voice in your ears

Your soul must be at work When you come to worship take heed you never do so in your own strength

So much more is required and sanctifying the name of God than your strength is ever able to carry you on in Therefore act and settle your faith upon Jesus whenever you come to worship

God You see what he's saying You know this is gonna take work, and you know you don't have it in you

And so you spend this time saying Lord help me spirit of God Move through me fix me upon what

I'm here to do. Let your name be reverenced. Keep me from distraction Keep me from sinful thoughts.

Help me to promote the worship of you and exalt in your name with my brothers and sisters

Let us exalt together in your name Help me to promote this church in her spirituality.

I put a little acronym together This week, I don't know if it will be helpful or not, but I'm just thinking of myself as I prepare to worship

And so I wrote out the word before you might even do this if you haven't used your little piece of paper yet Here's a good exercise

If you're right the acrostic so right before B E F O R E if you don't get that right the acronym kind of loses its flow if you write before down just Just consider these six elements,

I think very helpful This is essentially a prayer of what you're asking the

Lord to do as you approach worship And it begins with that humility that Calvin spoke of first Lord bless my weak efforts

So before you worship Lord bless my weak efforts Second empty my distractions

Third fix my heart to Christ Fourth open my mind by the

Spirit fifth remind me of your grace

Sixth equip me for your will Bless my weak efforts

Lord. I'm here Morning didn't go how I thought it would I don't really feel in a right place to even worship you car ride was

Not a good time to have that conversation But the way Saturday went I'm just stretched so thin.

I'm so distracted. I feel it I feel that my mind and my heart are in different places, but here I am

Lord. I'm weak bless my weak effort strengthen it Empty my distractions

Even sitting here goldfish drop on the floor a little coup a creek someone running running off to the restroom like Lord empty me from These distractions let me be let me be solely focused on worshiping you

Fix my heart to Christ Make Christ radiant this morning in song and in prayer

In in preaching interaction and fellowship at the Lord's Supper may Christ my

Savior Glow illuminate every aspect of this worship fix my heart to him in other words make my affections

Directed toward him open my mind by the Spirit. I Can't just take flesh and bone and sinew and drop it on scripture

It's not gonna do anything Lord Illuminate open my mind spiritually give me spiritual understanding

Remind me of your grace So that I can be thankful so that I can be framed in humility keep reminding me of your grace

The things that I'm hearing they're true of me That though I came as a sinner,

I'm called a saint But I'm worshiping on high as a special possession one of your treasured ones

It might have been a Freudian slip, but it was a good one Tony prayed You know as as your choice, and he said church at prayer this morning.

It's like well. We are his choice We're his special possession And then equip me for your will if this worship

Doesn't equip me to do your will This afternoon this evening and the days that follow have

I even worshipped? Have I even come close to worship if I can walk away unchanged if I can leave that perfect mirror

And forget what I saw So equip me Lord to do your will train my hands

Let me say one more thing about before this is before worship. Maybe this is something you do when you hit Park This is something you do and People are all sitting and you just have this kind of little acronym out in front of you.

You can make your own acronym The point is that you're preparing yourself to worship, and if you think about preparing for yourself for worship you realize

Five minutes before 10 a .m. Isn't gonna really cut it Jacob couldn't just say all right.

Well these two stones will have to do he had to prepare there was effort And we ought to have that same diligence on a

Saturday night early on a Sunday morning to say Whatever else needs to get done the whole point of doing anything is to get to this place where I can worship

God And I love what this is again leaning on George Swinnick He says this is how it should be as we prepare for the

Lord's Day prepare to meet God Just that simple phrase it's so enlightening isn't it?

Are you prepared to meet you know wake up in the morning children get ready to meet God it's like what I? Don't know.

We're just going to church. We're not meeting God right. I thought we're just going to church today Prepare to meet

God Take yourself to your chamber on Saturday night All right, so he's saying you know

Saturday night. You're in bed. You've got the jammies on the alarm clock set. What do you do? confess your unfaithfulness

Feel something of your shame as you consider your sins and then out of that ask

God to prepare your heart So you can worship him rightly Spend some time

Considering his infinite majesty his holiness his jealousy his goodness

Consider what he's called you to do think about the weight of what you're about to do

Meditate on how short the time will be And he doesn't just mean that you know that morning that worship

But he just means like how few Sundays you have left to do this in this vapor of life and Continue musing

Until the fire burns well, I guess we have LED lamps now But you get the sense until the fire burns out

You cannot think the good that you will gain by forethought How pleasant how profitable the

Lord's Day would be after such a preparation? He's saying if you're to prepare in this way, you can't even think about how good it will be when it comes

It'll be better than you expected The oven of your heart baked in this way overnight will be easily heated the next morning

You know, you've got hot coals during the night and even though that heat is fading There's still some gradual warmth there

And so when you rekindle them in the morning, it's it's easy to go flame again If you start with a cold oven a lot harder, right?

The fire is so well raked up the day before that by the time you go to bed It's easily kindled when you rise if you would leave your heart with God on Saturday night

You will find it with him on Sunday morning. Do we even do that?

Do we even do that? Now lastly as you worship we talked about why we talked about before you worship and now as you worship

And this is just to set out Where we're going in worship, and I think of what first Peter 2 says as you come to him the

Living Stone you also Like Living Stone it stands out to me because he's not talking about as you come to him at one point during your conversion and it's a it's a continuous process as You continue to come to him

The Living Stone over and over again as you keep coming to him

It's framed by worship as you come to him the Living Stone you like Living Stones are being built

Into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ you are a chosen people a royal priesthood a holy nation

God's special possession so that I Know some it's unfair.

Some people already know it's coming But just pause there so that as I keep coming to him in worship

Week by week day by day in the home as I keep coming to him in worship I'm being built up like a

Living Stone into this Spiritual house and my brothers and sisters were a holy priesthood

We're offering spiritual sacrifices, which are made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And and this is why he's chosen us

We're chosen people Royal priesthood holy nation. We're God's choice God's special possession so that So that we can learn a little bit more on Sunday and then go home and you know get ready for that Monday crawl

You know, but Wednesday is always good and do some groceries on Friday afternoon No, no, why are we doing this?

Why are we worshiping? Why are we being built into a spiritual house? Why are we a royal priesthood in a holy nation?

So that you may declare the praises of him we worship so that we can worship and As we worship we worship more so that we can worship

You see the logic here. We're being built up into a spiritual house by worship so that we can worship

This is the whole logic of 1st Peter 2 You're coming to worship like a Living Stone and you're being built into a priesthood in a spiritual house

Why what are those things for for more worship for a better worship for pure worship for an eternity a consummated?

Worship, that's why we worship Why are you mid construction as a Living Stone here this morning?

Why are you halfway through as it were being built into a spiritual house? Why are you this chosen people so that you will declare his praises so that you will continue to worship in other words?

We worship for praise in progress Praise in progress.

That's what we're doing here this morning Hopefully a church can say better than it was last year.

Can we say that? I don't know Don't don't bring that up No, maybe you should

Hopefully you can say We're getting better than we were our worship is

Subject to seasons like preaching you preach in season out of season, right? That's how worship is but at the same time we want to say we're praise in progress

There ought to be something more joy something more humility more of unity more of reverence more of preparation.

Do you see? Praise in progress being built into this house until the worship is consummated

I've been when I was preparing at one point in the week. I was listening to Beethoven's 9th

Even if you don't like classical music, you'd probably be familiar with Beethoven's 9th It has probably one of the most famous openings to you know a symphony ever

In the first movement you have some of the instruments playing a very hushed tone You really have to turn up the volume. It almost sounds like they're warming up at the beginning, you know

Like a bassoon and you know French, you know trumpet or you know playing you almost think are like are they just tuning?

Are we about to start and you realize no actually this is it's already started and it's very hushed and slow and it's sort of Meandering and the violins come in very softly and meandering and then there's just a sharp moment

You know, it's coming when the conductor throws down You know biggest movement of the whole concert and then the orchestra lets loose

And it's like everything that was restrained and weak and sounded kind of unsure all the sudden explodes and it's just this gripping powerful moment in the first movement and To me when

I was listening to that during the week I couldn't help but think there's a good analogy of what our worship is like Is this really worship,

I don't know are we just warming up? No. No, this is true worship. Okay? Well, it seems kind of meandering and okay.

Well, there's some beauty here. Yeah. Okay. Some instruments are coming together now Oh, no, we lost it. We lost it.

All right. Okay, it's coming back. It's coming back here we are and that's kind of the most of what we expect in worship and Then on that day when the skies are rolled back like a scroll and we enter into the assembly

That's engaged in the perfect worship of the Lamb. It's like that explosive moment Now we see what all of this was always about Now we asked the

Lord to wipe our tears away because we made it so pitiful in comparison Now we feel ashamed that we had not prepared and reverently sought his face in worshiping him

Now we see that moment of rapture, this is what we were made to experience

The thing that strikes me about Beethoven's ninth is that by the time it premiered in May of 1824

Beethoven wouldn't have been able to hear it He was fully deaf by then So he composed this

Probably one of the greatest pieces he ever composed and he couldn't even hear it played and I think sometimes we come to worship and we're going through the duties and the means of worship and we're like Beethoven We're deaf to what this is all about We can't even hear where this is all going

We can't even prepare for the beauty and the glory of that day That day is a day of worship that day is the day when

Knees drop to the floor the power and the awe of the revelation of God drives people to their knees and and every tongue confesses that Jesus is

Lord and Worthy as the lamb is the chorus from every tribe and tongue throughout all human history with angels seraphim and cherubim all corralling around the throne of God and And if we're deaf to that and we're indifferent to that and we're distracted from that What are we doing here?

And so our worship may be praise and progress But that praise and progress is meant to motivate us and encourages us

To the purity of worship on that day to the fullness of consummated worship in this life.

We're often deaf To the outcome of our praise we don't see where it's all going

We're unable to fully enjoy what's being formed. What's being played inconsistently and meandering

But the day is coming when our eyes will be fully opened. Our ears will be unstopped when When we will be in the awe of worshiping

God in spirit and in truth Seeing him as he is So until that day and I close with this until that day

Our worship should also contain something of this great hope Our worship should have something of this yearning for God to finish the work.

He's begun To finish this new creation that has begun in us who belong to Jesus Christ to dawn that perfect day

When worship will fill the heavens and the earth because God's glory will cover the earth like the water covers the sea

And Charles Wesley, I close with these words in the last stanza of Of a hymn he wrote.

I Think he captures something of this yearning Finish then thy new creation pure and Spotless, let us be let us see thy great salvation

Perfectly restored in thee changed from glory into glory right praise and progress

Until we take with thee our place till we cast our crowns before thee lost in wonder love and praise

Father even now our desire is to honor you. We pray that The conviction we feel is a conviction wrought out of your supreme worthiness of worship

And how frail and fickle we are in bringing it to you Forgive us

Lord for having fainting hearts and distracted minds and wills that Quickly turn the way of our bodies the way of our flesh not the way of your spirit

You pray that as a church Lord, we would be committed to growing in Spirituality and in particular

Lord in worshiping you in spirit and truth that you would help us all to know Specific and practical ways in our lives and in our homes where we can better approach the right worship of our

God And we pray you would do this work in us Lord that you might receive the glory and the honor

Do your name these things we ask in your son's name? Amen, now's our time for interaction and For those who are unfamiliar with with interaction.

It's simply a time after the sermon where we invite Brothers here among us to perhaps have a word comment emphasis

Maybe even a question, but we just ask that whatever said it's done for the for the purpose of edifying and building up all the present

Thank you, brother Have two quick things First one is

I was very thankful personally for the reminder of In scripture and particularly in the passage this morning about being pilgrims and sojourners

Because the things that we know God is Deems is important When we focus on those we can often turn them into idols themselves whether it's

Providing whether it's Providing a dwelling Raising a family all those things that are important to God And important that we obey

It's hard to hold those all in balance with being a pilgrim and a sojourner in this world and not clinging to those as the end goal and So I think the

Lord Teaches us about being pilgrims and sojourners a lot in scripture because I think we need to hear it a lot

And then the other thing completely different but as far as Kind of being captivated by worship this morning for me the singing it was like another level and Especially I think because the familiarity of the hymn 198

I Just was taken away I Felt as though I wasn't

It was to me. It was a taste of heaven and it was sweet Praise God Thank you very much,

I was really appreciative of the the acronym that you came up with And I was sick because the whole second half of the sermon

I'm thinking of like all these things like oh, you know if We work towards that I'm thinking of all these things that we'll start doing and things that we'll stop doing as a family as individuals

You know that would you know if my heart was fixated on the right things it would change you know definitely our

What we do the previous night what we do the morning of like little how I dress like getting up things like that But but and I'm not saying that those things are right or wrong, but your prayer

Your acronym reminds us that that Like F fix my heart to Christ You know what?

I mean because if I just start coming up with a bunch of rules You know that we're gonna start to abide by but but I don't do these things fix my heart towards Christ Then it's almost gonna make it worse like we'll set ourselves up for frustration and the day would become a burden and and and that's not really what you're talking about so That was very helpful.

And thank you for that. Oh praise the Lord. I I was I was thinking about the order of the ease and I realized that just to kind of dovetail you what you're saying.

I need to be constantly reminding myself of God's grace Before I ask ask him to equip me to do as well.

I Need to be reminded of his grace because first of all I need to gain some perspective on how unable

I've been to carry out his will prior to this moment and How he's yet shown me grace and therefore

I hope more dependent upon his grace as I'm trying to do his will You know, and I think that You know, it's interesting.

Remembrance is a really big part of worship, you know As we're about to see remembrance is a fundamental part of worship for God's people

And so we don't want to have amnesia every week but rather we want to have the humility of You know the previous weeks lead us to say

Thank you that you've been gracious and and even now as I try to take some steps forward in faith keep me dependent and Anticipating of your your grace, you know, so anyways that to dovetail that point

Yeah, I think that perhaps the F line is the most important. Yeah Process.

Thank you for that. Praise the Lord and I was just thankful for you know, how you

Reiterated the preparation, you know, so often I go before the Lord my heart is so cold, right?

but out of whether it's a duty a love a desire to worship the Lord you

Persevere and you go go back and keep going back again and again and again And it's almost like Jacob when he's wrestling with the

Lord like no I'm not gonna let you go until you melt this heart of stone you know what I mean, and you continue to persevere and and And Yes, and what a wonderful blessing when you go to the

Lord and you feel cold -hearted I mean any melts you and you had to wound up in tears and just on your face before the

Lord How much of a blessing that is? I thank you for Reiterating and explaining that yeah, amen

Like praise God that he allows us to be warmed up if we come cold But the Swinox point how much better to be already partly warmed up when we come

How much more would we receive out of his worship if it wasn't the last half hour that was having that effect

But but actually the first, you know, and so it's a it's a motive.

It's a motivation I think for us all to prepare for worship So that we can receive more from him

Yeah So yeah, I appreciate the acronym as well and just piggybacking off of what

Hogan said, you know there's a part of the sermon I was like That's not me

I Never come that, you know, there's a sense of my flesh just saying you never come that way you are not you know, what is wrong with you in a sense and I'm grateful because I know that he uses the means to bring us there and I know that look if I If I'm reminded of his grace in my life, right then then that causes me to look at my flesh and and my sin rightly through his eyes and and look to the one who covered it and And that through Christ and only through him that I can

I can worship I can I can come here as you guys said Feeling empty at times or I can arrive at family worship at home feeling empty or a prayer time in the morning or in the word

But because of Christ there is always the hope and there's the promise that that he will not leave us there

He will not he promises. He will not leave you there If you're his and you as Joe said you grab on and you don't let go

Sometimes all you can do is grab on and not let go for maybe I don't know

Three times in a row three quiet times in a row or even a worship service, but you know That that because of his grace just like he saved you not because of your self effort and yourself

You were condemned because of that that he will again rise you up To worship him to worship him as he prepares your hearts as he humbles you as he reveals to you the great things

He has done By his grace in your life. So let us persevere as individual.

Don't be discouraged, right? Continue to go to him go to him right and and and and look to him to worship

Well, I certainly join with all my brothers and in my appreciation of your second half of the sermon

But I I just also wanted to say I really appreciated the first half As we're kind of taking the the study back towards the emphasis for this

Going this Method of going through Genesis where we're looking at sort of the macro level gospel

Issues and themes in in Genesis and it I know it's been hard for the last few weeks

You know, some passages are easier than others but this just really I really appreciated how we're back on track with that and especially the

You reiterating the importance of the land and the earth to to the redemptive history all through all through the

Revelation and I Certainly Yeah, my opinion doesn't really matter especially compared to gills

But I do agree with you that this is not a negative passage with regard to Jacob's spiritual development.

This is This is very positive And I think that there are some hints in the text particularly later on in chapter 35 where we see

Deborah Rebecca's nurses is with them that that tell us that a whole lot more is going on in the background than than what is recorded

It's not an exhaustive story of Jacob's journey, right but we Important points are made

For a purpose. Yes, it's telling the this theme with With respect to the foundation of the nation of Israel and and the redemptive themes that we're looking at through this

Yes, and so it's important not to think that we're being told everything that happened in Jacob's life. And so it's not

It's not unrealistic to think that it's possible He did journey down and visit Esau and Seir and that's just not recorded for us, right?

Because obviously there was communication between him and and his and as his father's Place of abode as well.

Yes, that comes up and there's no Animosity when they're when Isaac's buried, right?

So yeah, so there's a lot more going on in the background But anyway, I just wanted to reiterate I appreciated just the focus on once again

Just looking at the the broad theme of the land and that's important. It's so incredibly important to us as we

Seek to balance this this view of yes, we're pilgrims and sojourners in this land

But in what way right? How are we is it just because this this world has no significance or is it because we're looking for the increasing coming of that city whose builder and maker is

God and Insofar as we're laboring to that end our labors have meaning right in terms of God's kingdom even our physical labors but if we sort of bifurcate those two and and Separate them out into a secular and and sacred sphere than we lose so much

And one thing that struck me is you would talk about the Significance of the land and and of course the return to the worship of God in Canaan And this is

I think if I remember right the sixth mention of an altar at this point in Genesis It doesn't mean it's it there's other places where an altar can be assumed

You know like in Genesis 4 where they call the name of the Lord We assume that that would have involved an altar but in terms of the specific mention of an altar this is number six and in the land, of course, we're familiar with an altar that a

Pillar that Jacob set up at Bethel this altar the altar that Abraham had built in Shechem as well a few other altars between Abraham and one for Isaac So in the land in the promised land the land of Canaan if we define an altar as a place where God is known and rightly worshipped

Okay, where God is known and rightly worshipped There there are more altars

I think it's safe to say there are more altars In almost every nation on the earth today than there were in the promised land in the days of Abraham There's more

Places throughout this world where God is known and rightly worshipped That should just fill us with awe

When we think of the fruit of what God has done throughout history