Confirming the Covenant

He is Risen. He is Risen. I am aware that it is the Sunday after Easter and I want to make sure you're aware that we come every Sunday to remember the Risen Savior and exalt him. I want to give us a we have a lot of new folks and I want to give us a well, a reminder. So we've been out of sync in terms of walking through the book of Exodus, where we are and how we've gotten here. So we are in the book of Exodus will be in chapter 23, beginning in verse 20. If you didn't have a Bible, you can use the pew Bible in front of you. That will be on page 64, Exodus 23, beginning in Exodus 20. We've been walking through Exodus story by story and then verse by verse. Most recently for the Ten Commandments, we wanted to slow down and study those with a little more precision and look at what all of God's Word says about each one. We then kind of jumped ahead. We looked at chapter 29 and 25 and 26 right before Resurrection Sunday with the purpose of preparing our hearts to see Christ is the great high priest. He has led us now into the true holy place of God and the true temple already. Well, looking at that, the last section of Exodus that tells us how to worship. Now we're going to go back. And we're going to look at the end of the section that begins in Chapter 19. 19 through 24 is one section that is actually called the Book of the Covenant. That comes from Chapter 24, verse 7, the name that Moses actually gives that particular section. So we've got Israel there, Moses declaring his words, and this is a summary of, I believe, what we will learn this morning. We have been delivered to worship. Fairly simple, fairly straightforward, but very difficult. We have been delivered to worship. That means we obey his words and we trust his leading. We'll be looking at three different things this morning. First, God calls us to be his people by grace. First, God calls us to be his people by grace. Secondly, God calls us to obey his word. God calls us to obey his word. And third, our covenant confidence must be in the blood of Christ. Our covenant confidence must be in the blood of Christ. We're called by grace. We obey his word. Our confidence is in Christ. Now, the first point doesn't actually come from Exodus 23 or 24. I'm going to give a summary, actually, from Exodus 1 up to the point we've gotten to where we've gotten. What we're looking at in chapters 19 to 24 is very much a royal covenant. It's based upon the ancient Near Eastern Caesarian treaty. You're welcome for that if you want to go home and Google that. You see, when we elect a president, we swear in the president. He has to make certain promises and oaths to us as a people. That's not the way it was in the ancient Near East, and that's not the way God calls us to be his covenant people. No, God says, you're my people. Here is what I expect of you. He swears us to his allegiance. Now, in the kind of covenant that we see here, the ancient Near Eastern world, God is actually using a structure that would have been known to Israel and to this world. He says, I will be your God. I will provide for you food and water. I will provide protection from your enemies. But this is what I expect of you, your obedience, your careful attention and obedience to my every word. And then there's a list of blessings and cursings that follow based upon obedience or disobedience. What we see this morning is a royal covenant with a people, the people of Israel. Now, God created Israel. There Abraham was not knowing who the one true God is. He was a pagan, just like everyone else. And God spoke to him and said, Avram, I'm calling you out. You will be my, you'll be the father of many nations. You'll be the father of my nation. Well, he didn't have any children at the time, but he trusted God and God blessed him with a son. And that son had another son and his name was Israel. And he became the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. God created this nation. He began them from a very early age, and then he sent that people group, the Israelites, into Egypt. He intended for them to go there because there they would be protected, they would be cared for, they would be left alone by the Egyptians who would have thought they were dirty to the Egyptians. They were left there to grow and multiply. If we look back at Exodus 1, they multiply, they multiply, they multiply. They grew mighty in number. And then things changed in Egypt. They became enslaved. Pharaoh began abusing them and they began crying out to God and God heard them and God delivered them. He sent plagues upon them and most important is the last plague. The plague on the firstborn son of every family. God sent a spirit into the nation of Egypt and every firstborn child would die unless Blood was put on the mantle of the doorpost. God had provided a way for the spirit, the angel, to go over the homes of the Israelites if they trusted and obeyed God. He delivered them mightily. Pharaoh starts sending them out. He sends them out and they plunder the Egyptians. They walk out of Egypt rich in trusting God. God takes them across the Red Sea, delivers them again, even though they're doubting. They're questioning God. They raise their arms up and they accuse God of abusing them. And God still is patient and God still delivers them. They grumble through the desert. And then we get to our particular section, chapter 19. God calls Moses to a high place. He gives him the Ten Commandments. And then he gives them stipulations. We're not going to be looking at all those stipulations. Those are circumstantial laws, all based upon the Ten Commandments. We're not going to go back and look at those with the same kind of precision. We're going to begin in chapter 23, and this is where our passage is. It's a call to obedience. It's a call to obedience. They have been redeemed to worship. This is what every book of the Bible is about. This entire book is about how we are called back to God, how God is calling us to worship. It's about us giving him our greatest love, our greatest affection, our greatest desire, our obedience. But Exodus is especially about worship because it's about the name of God being declared, being revealed and being made known to this particular people in a very particular way. This is important for us. The more we know God, the more we'll worship. If you feel like you're lacking worship, it's only because you're lacking in true knowledge of God. And that's just not head knowledge. It's a knowledge that serves the affections. It's a knowledge that serves an awe and a wonder and a reverence for God. It's a knowledge that makes you more aware of sin. And when you see sin in the knowledge of God, you hate it. Because it's gross, it's damaging to your relationship to God. More knowledge of God leads to a greater love for him and a greater hatred for sin. It leads to fear and wonder and awe. And this is why God has spoken to us over the years and in so many ways. There's two important points I want to emphasize here before we begin in chapter 23. It's the past. in the future. This is where we really capture Israel. They're coming from their past. They're looking forward to their future. They're in this very important position. They're looking back as the redeemed people of God. This is important for us. They have been redeemed by God's free and gracious choice. God didn't choose them because they were obedient. God didn't choose them because they were great in number. He made them great in number. God didn't choose them because they'd be a mighty nation. No, God chose them because he said, I'm going to love you among all the peoples. It's his grace that has redeemed and delivered this people. As we look back, it's grace that has made them the people of God. Now he's calling them to obedience. And then when it's the future, they're looking forward to the promised land. This is all in preparation. When you get to the land that I have prepared for you, that you have been prepared for, this is all in preparation. You will be obedient to me because you represent me, because I am calling you to worship me. So we're in the presence of being called to obedience. But it's based upon the fact that they've already been called by grace in the past and they're looking forward to that future. Again, this is where we are in, if you're a Christian, in God's plan. We have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, and now we're looking forward to the final redemption. Now let's look at chapter 23, verse 20. I want you to listen to a few things here. First, there is a future action, but listen to all the actions of God. I will. I will. It's very much like chapter three and chapter five of Exodus, where God has said, I am who I am. I will be with you. That's the that's part of the covenant name, his action and the first person. I will do all these things for you. And listen for how often obedience and careful obedience. is repeated. It's God doing a great work for Israel and him expecting their complete and absolute attention and obedience to his will. Exodus chapter 23, beginning in verse 20. Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not harden your transgression, for my name is in him. But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars and pieces. You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. None shall miss Gary or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come. And I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out before you until you have increased and possessed the land. And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates. For I give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.' Then he said to Moses, Come up to the Lord. You and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but the others shall not come near and the people shall not come up. Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said. All the words of the Lord have spoken, we will do. And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins. And half the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, All that the Lord has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient. And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, behold, the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. The rest of the chapter will be looking at a couple of weeks as we look at the theme of seeing God through exodus. But now let's turn to our second point. God calls us to obey his word. Now, the first real interpretation question, the first real thing we need to address is, who is this angel? Who is the angel that the Lord is sending before him, whose name is in the angel, whose God's name is in the angel? Well, we've seen an angel a number of times already in Exodus. In chapter 3, verse 2, at the burning bush, the angel even speaks, I am God. In chapter 14 verses 19 through 20, the angel is identified with the Shekinah glory that's present with Israel and fire by day and cloud by night. And the angel here particularly, he moves from the front where he's leading them already to the back to protect them from Egypt's army and then spreads the Red Sea for them to be delivered. So who is the angel here? Well, it could be an angel. As we normally talk of an angel, it's that high being, the presence of God, who has no body. This is possible, but I think there's some better options, because angel could just simply mean messenger. The word angel could simply be messenger, someone who you send to give a message. The angel could be Moses. Moses is the leader of Israel. Moses is sad to be speaking the Word of God. When Moses speaks, he wants Israel to obey him as if it is God himself because he is speaking the Word of God. As a prophet of God, he is declaring God's truth in a way that they should listen to him and obey him. Well, the problem with Moses being the promised messenger here is that he doesn't get to go into the Promised Land. Moses actually fails to take them into the promised land and even to possess it, much less to conquer everybody in it. So I don't think God is promising that this is in reference to Moses here. It could be Joshua. Joshua is going to take over the reins of leadership after Moses. He is going to be God's messenger who leads them into the promised land. It actually helps him conquer the promised land. Joshua's name is God's name is in Joshua because Joshua's name is Yahweh says. The personal covenantal name of God is actually in Joshua's own very name. And so there we have a strong likelihood of who this is referring to. But then you have this part, he will not forgive your sins. implying that he may have the power to forgive sins and as we know from Mark 2 only God can forgive sins. So I think this angel this messenger is actually the second person of the Trinity pre-incarnate presently leading the people of Israel. I believe this is referring to Jesus whose name is Yahshua Yahweh saves. The same as Joshua, only a different pronunciation. This is a pre-incarnate manifestation, I believe, of the second person of the Trinity. What's amazing here is that the name is in him. He's identified with a name, and the angel's already at the burning bush, spoken as if God. This is God himself, but it's also God distinct from the one speaking. And here we see some beginnings of a doctrine of the Trinity, which we will see much clearer when we look to the Gospel of John next. That's what we're preaching after, what we'll be studying after Exodus. Now, the next big question as we look to this passage. Why would God not pardon their transgressions? Sounds very harsh. I will lead you, and if you do not obey me, I will not pardon your transgressions. They are the angel. If you do not obey the angel, he will not pardon your transgressions. That's there in verse 21. Pay careful attention to him. Obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression. This is a strong warning. The same language is actually used of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18. It's a strong warning to say there will be no grace if you do not obey me. I believe God is using the strongest possible warning, and my interpretation of this is that this is hyperbole. My interpretation of this warning is that it is hyperbole, which is an overstatement. Indeed, God does forgive them. If God kept this word, and if God intended that He would not forgive their transgressions, this story would be over in Exodus 32. In Exodus 32, while Moses is up on the mountain, the people, they take their jewels, they take their belongings, and they make a golden calf. They make an idol, and they worship that golden calf as the one who delivered them, not giving honor and praise to Yahweh. Throughout Exodus, we've seen that God is rich in mercy. In Exodus 34, 6, one of the greatest revelations of God's nature, God himself speaks, Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. God is rich in mercy. He forgives Israel as Moses intercedes and mediates for them. So this is where we actually identify with Israel. We're called to obedience and we fail. We're called to obedience. We're called to a holy standard. Be holy for I am holy. We're called to a holy standard and we fail. This is actually a beautiful picture of the gospel here where God calls us to holiness. And we fail. Sam actually mentioned this in the Good Friday sermon. This is something that's amazing in the Old Testament. God is faithful to his people that constantly forsake him. God is faithful in the Old Testament to his people who are always, constantly forsaking him. And you read the Old Testament and it's a dilemma. Why is God constantly faithful? Or actually, it's a moral issue. How can God constantly be faithful to a people that forsake him? How can he be just to constantly be faithful to these people that forsake him? To answer this question, we actually have to ask an even harder question. Because Jesus Christ was the one and true only faithful man. Jesus Christ alone obeyed everything God ever said. Jesus Christ alone was the true son who did all things in a righteous manner. He obeyed the word in every possible way. But yet on that cross. He was forsaken by God. Why would God forsake the one man who was faithful? How could God forsake the one man who is faithful? You see, these two dilemmas are connected. God forsakes him so that he can continue to remain faithful to us because in forsaking him, he poured out his wrath against our sin on him, which allows him to forgive us of our iniquity and then to be just in being faithful to us who forsake him. If you're not a Christian this morning, this is the gospel. We are called to obey God in every way and in every way we reject him and we deny him. We live according to our pride. We live according to our determination. And a God who is just, a God who, according to his own justice, he should punish us, he should forsake us. But instead of forsaking us, he sent his only son to live the life we should have lived. And then he takes the punishment that we deserve so that God can then forgive us and be just. God can then call us his own son and welcome us into his family. If you're a Christian this morning, you deserve the wrath of God. We all deserve the wrath of God. But because Christ came, because he died for us, because he is risen, We have hope, but you must believe in him and you must commit your life to him. Let's return to our text verse 22. There's a high call to obedience, and here we're talking to a redeemed people. If you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say again, we see this angel is identified with God. Obey his voice. Obey all that I say. Then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. There's a careful call to obedience, carefully paying attention, listening to what he says. Now, here's the promise. Here's the promise of protection. I will protect you. Your enemies, they're my enemies. Your friends, they're my friends. I will be your advocate. I will be for you. And if the Almighty God who created all things is for you, who could possibly stand against you? This is big for this nation, Israel. Because they're not a military nation. There's no way, by their own strength, they could ever possibly conquer these nations that are standing in their way to get into the Promised Land. They have to have someone else fighting for them. So God says, I will give you victory. I will drive them out. My terror will cause them to turn their backs to you. They will flee in fear. And he's very clear it's not going to happen all at once, because then the land would go desolate. He's got it planned out little by little. You will overtake the land and you'll possess the land and the land will remain good. Verse 23, this is a temporal when my angel goes. This is speaking to that time in which God will enter, take them into the land and he will conquer them. Now we have another question here. Is it just for God to go into that land and wipe out all those nations? Is it just for God to take his people, put them in this land that's already occupied and wipe all those people out? Well, I believe God is just because God is always good and we need to be careful in ever accusing him of anything but good. God is just in all that he does. First of all, we could just simply see that all these nations, they're pagan nations worshiping other gods, not obeying God, they are guilty and God is just and right in punishing the guilty. This isn't murder that is without cause, though God was killing them, God would have wiped them out. God would have blocked them off the face of the earth, justly because they are rebelling and sinning against him. This has actually been a very long act of mercy for God. If you go back to Genesis 15, when God made Abraham a promise, he said, in 430 years, I'm going to bring you back to this land. And for that 430 years was given as a time for these nations to repent of their sin. God graciously gave these nations 430 years to turn from their idolatry, to turn from a rebellious God and turn to God. For 430 years, he watched and waited, seeing that these people were worshiping every other God but him. And now that time has come to an end. And he will punish them. One of the other reasons he wants to wipe them out is because he wants to protect his child. He wants to protect his firstborn son, Israel. He wants to protect them because he knows how tempted they will be of the idolatry. Do not listen all the warnings of verse 24. Do not bow down to their gods. Do not serve them. Remember the whole command of Moses to Pharaoh. Let my people go that they may serve me. Here he knows that if there's idols in the land that Israel be tempted to serve them rather than God, they are called to serve Yahweh. He repeats the command in verse 32 and 33. Make no covenant with them. Stay away from their gods. Because they're a constant snare to you. Serve God alone. They've been saved from being enslaved to Pharaoh to serving God. Now, there's a principle here that's very important for us. It's a lot easier for vice to influence us than virtue. We are so prone to sin. We have such an inclination to impurity. We are so inclined to it. It's a lot easier for us to be ensnared and brought down to vice rather than to fight against it. We need to be careful who we are friends with here. This is why Paul says good bad company corrupts good character. We be careful with who we have aligned ourselves with, who we are connected to, who we have committed ourselves to because they influence us. One of the most important demands of the New Testament that's so clear, do not be unequally yoked. Because your best friend should be your spouse. And if you have connected yourself in that intimate way to someone who is not committed to God, they will influence you. They will influence you in a negative way. It's not just marriage though, it's our friendships. Ask yourself, who is the greatest influence in my life? Who is my best friend? How are they influencing my life? If they're not a Christian, are they having more influence on you than you are having on them? The snares of idolatry are dangerous, Christian. Be careful. Let's look to all the application now. We have the presence of God. We have the presence of God in a greater way than Israel had, because we know that it's Jesus Christ who leads us. As we talked about a few weeks ago, he is our worship leader. Christ said, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. It is clear who our leader is, and he is the great high priest who is able to forgive us of our iniquity and lead us truly into the presence of God. Even more so, it gets better. As he is the right hand of the Father, he has sent his spirit to indwell us, to convict us, first to convert us, then to convict us and to change us. Christ is our leader. We have been saved by his death and his resurrection. He has given us his law and now we are called to obey. Since Christ is our leader, we are called to glorify God in our suffering. Since Christ is our leader, we are called to glorify God in our suffering. And I make this an intentional application here because as we look to the promised land promises. We long for that life, we long for the curse to be reversed, if we look back to that list of promises, he will give them bread and water, he will take away sickness, no more trouble and childbearing, you'll have a long life. These are all reversing the curse of the fall. This is putting things back the way they were intended to be. We long for that. We long to have children and numerous children, healthy children and long years with those children. We long to have a life that has this kind of peace. But that peace for us Christian is still to come. We can't believe in the prosperity gospel that when we believe in Jesus, everything just turns peachy and great. No, we're called to suffer with Christ. Listen to Peter, first Peter 413, but rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. Or Paul and Philippians 310, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. By any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. The call to Christ is a call to more suffering. The call to Christ is a call to living in the midst of trial and temptation, to suffering now under the constant temptation of sin and resisting it. It's a call to constant trials. With a good father, he constantly disciplines us. Christian, do you know suffering? Do you experience suffering in the name of Christ for the cause of Christ? It is the one thing that's promised throughout Scripture in the New Testament. In this age, we will know suffering. It's the call to obedience and long suffering that we must trust in Christ. The next thing I want us to look at is Christ as our leader. Since Christ is our leader, we are called to be a holy people. Since Christ is our leader, we are called to be a holy people. We have been purchased with the precious blood of Christ. He is holy. Therefore, we are called to be holy. The spirit who lives inside of us is holy. Therefore, we must be holy. Since Christ is our leader, our leader is holy. We are called to commit our lives to him, to listen to his words and to obey him. How tempting is it to just find our favorite passages in Scripture? The ones that tell us all the things that God does for us, rather than the things, rather than the passages that tell us what we are called to do in obedience to the God who has done so much for us? How much do we try to avoid the very hard declarations and calls? We're called to repent. We're called to resist sin. We're called to be redirected in our life, to stop pursuing our pride and our choices, but to pursue the law of Christ. So that's the beauty of the law. It tells us how God always intended us to live. That's the beauty of those commandments, to truly see the law. And as the psalmist says, I delight in the law because it actually redirects me back to God. It isn't a burden because I see what it's doing, it's pushing me closer and closer to God. Our last application, since Christ is our leader, we are called to be an expectant people. Since Christ is our leader, we are called to be an expectant people. As Israel was redeemed, here they are getting the law. They're looking forward to the promised land. If we're Christians, if you're a Christian this morning, we are gathered together. We have been purchased by the blood of Christ. We're believers now under the law of Christ. Believing in his headship because he saves us, but now called to obedience, looking forward to when he will come. And we will no longer have to sing his praise with the taint of sin all over our mouths and our hearts and our hands. No, we will be completely redeemed. We will be perfectly sanctified. We should long for that home as we sing about that last song. Long where the songs never end. Long for when the whole chorus is gathered together in true worship. Not looking around, not wondering what they're going to do after church. Those are the promise of Jesus. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. My father's house in my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, what I have told you that I will go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. I will take you to myself. That where I am, you may be also. And, you know, the way to where I'm going. Now, Christ is the way to where he is going. Last Sunday, I challenged how much are you investing in the resurrection? This week, it's actually a very similar challenge, if you believe in Christ is risen, then you believe is the right hand of the Father and you believe he's going to come back. How much are you investing in the return of Christ? How much are you investing in your life in the return of Christ that this is not the life that you are meant for? No, you're meant for that perfect new heavens and new earth. Let me conclude with our last section of Scripture, our last point, our covenant confidence must be in the blood of Christ. Notice chapter 24, this book of the covenant, it is just like it began. Chapter 19, God says Moses can build a mountain. Everybody else stay back. It begins the same way, chapter 24, verses 1 through 2. He gives an ordering. Alright, some folks, you can come up, but you can't come up all the way. Moses alone can come up to the top. Moses reads the words and the laws. Now, words, I believe that's actually referring to the Ten Commandments. They're better called the Ten Words. These are the words of the Lord. They're actually better called the Ten Words of God than the Ten Commandments. But here the words, I believe, are the Ten Commandments, as we call them. And then the rest of the laws, those are the conditional laws. The people commit to the Lord. All the words of the Lord have spoken, we will do. So Moses wrote down all the words. He rose early. He built an altar. And they make a sacrifice. And then he takes half the blood. Puts it in a basin, takes half the blood, he puts it on the altar. He's cleansing the altar. He's getting ready to cleanse the people. Moses took half the blood and put it in the basins, verse 6, and half the blood and threw it against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and he read it again in the hearing of the people. And again, they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. We will be obedient. And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words." As we look to this ceremony, we have to recognize that this blood is very powerful and simple. The blood sacrifice is going to come next in terms of the ordering of the priest and the tabernacle and how to make that blood sacrifice. And the blood sacrifice, the killing of an innocent animal, that teaches us something. One, sin is serious. It's an offense to God and that sin, the consequence of sin is death. And that someone must die in our place. This covenant blood actually, I believe, points back to the deliverance of Egypt from Egypt. That lamb that was slain to the blood we put on the doorpost, I believe this ceremonial Blood sprinkling is reminding them of that lamb that was slain. But most of all, it's looking forward. It's looking forward to the lamb, the perfect lamb, the true lamb of God that will be slain for our sin once for all. The high point of the ceremony is this blood being sprinkled on all the people. Because it's not their commitment that makes them God's people. It's the blood of the covenant that forgives them, forgives their transgressions and sanctifies them. 1 Peter 1, that's found on page 1014, if you want to read along with me. 1 Peter 1 actually captures, I believe, this ceremony. This ceremony seems to be in the back of Peter's mind as he writes. Beginning in 1 Peter 1, verse 13. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Looking forward, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also must be holy in conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on his father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourself with fear of the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. We have been purified by the blood of the Lamb. That is the blood that sanctifies us. He'll speak later of the sprinkling of the people. That is what purifies us and sets us apart. And because we're set apart, we're called to be holy. For the God who purchased us is holy. As we look to this call to obey, I want to make sure we're holding two points in proper tension. First, do not let grace keep you from lacking obedience. Do not let grace keep you from lacking obedience, and this is a problem of Jude, the letter in Jude. We can claim grace as an excuse for sin. We can say it's OK for this to continue in my life habitually or intentionally because grace abounds. Friends, that is not seeing the blood of Christ as a precious offering for you. That is not seeing that the Holy Lamb had to be slain for you. We cannot let the claim of grace keep us from trusting His Word and obeying it. The second thing, do not let your lack of obedience keep you from grace. Do not let your lack of obedience keep you from grace. Christians. We fail. When we look to God's word and we see what he does for us, we see how glorious it is. It's impossible not to be overwhelmed with guilt. Because we fail. I'm looking at a bunch of failures in the light of God's perfect holy law. That's how we all come to the cross together as failures. Our failures cannot keep us from enjoying. From embracing the grace of God, we fail, and that's why we must come humbly broken and in need of the grace to be restored, to be forgiven. and to seek to obey him because he is worthy of our worship and our obedience. As we conclude. We must remember, we are constantly in need of his grace and because of his grace, we are called to obey. We are called to worship the one who has delivered us from the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom in whom we have redemption. and forgiveness of sins. Let's pray. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you that you do reveal yourself, and in seeing who you are, we see your glory, your beauty, your power. And we thank you, Lord. We thank you that you are Yahweh, Yahweh, great in grace, long-suffering, Mighty and steadfast love, we thank you. We praise you that you are the God of grace to forgive sinners. We thank you, Father, that you have sent your son to die for us. Help us, Lord, to embrace the love of Christ, to receive his grace. And to obey your word for his glory and by the power of your spirit, lead us, Almighty God, in the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.