Beacon Sunday Service: September 15th, 2024

I see your face in every sunrise. The colors of the morning are inside your eyes. The world awakens in the light of the day. I look up to the sky and say, Your beautiful in the moon at night with planets are in motion and galaxies above.

Grace and peace to you.

And if we can just find our way back to our seats. Let me just open up with a quick word of prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for this opportunity to come before you to worship you, to sing praises of your name, to hear your word proclaimed, and to fellowship together, Lord God. It's just such a wonderful privilege. And Lord, we're just overjoyed at just all the wonderful things that you're doing in our lives, Lord God, and in the lives of our church as well, Lord. So we just want to lift you up. We give you all the glory and praise.

Amen. Jesus has made it possible for us to go to God to be before him and just seen as clean. And so may we just approach him and just give him the thanks and praise that he deserves blood.

I've heard upon the sits righteousness for me, and stand your blood.

Speaks righteousness.

What can make us all love? Nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood of Jesus, what can wash us your snow? Welcome to friends of God, nothing but your blood, nothing but your blood king, what was can wash with our sins, what can make us all love nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood, what can wash us your snow.

Welcome friends of God, nothing but your blood, nothing but your blood king Jesus. What can wash us pure snow can wash us pure snow? Welcome to friends of God, nothing but your blood, nothing but your blood where you hide your business each one good as we are when we grow in free us from give us grace to see more beauty.

Help us, help us know you rule with power over raging blood in our most certain hour.

Help us help us clean to your commandment shaken by your faithful word we will never be abandoned You are God and we are your Christ our wisdom Christ our wisdom we adjoy for the beauty of the cross once in holishness we scorch but your blood has ransomed us amen help us in me and listen of your humble heart to save Christ our wisdom Christ our glory you are God forever praise help us see and mismercies of your humble are to say Christ our wisdom Christ our glory you are God forever praise this morning we will confess our faith using a catechism for Christian growth in this question and answer we'll confess what biblical repentance is and here's the question what is repentance and together repentance is recognizing sin as sin grieving and hating it then turning from sin to self renewing the mind and following Christ in all his ways amen can we do that church can we repent before the Lord may we grieve of our sin and may we just turn to Christ in all our in all his ways may we just continue this time of worship clean and renew right spirit within me our prayer created me created and renew right spirit within from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me. Joy of thy salvation. And renewed spirit within me. Created me.

Created me. Created.

And renew spirit within.

The joy of thy shall be shall right spirit within me. And good morning, guys. What an amazing song to lead us into today's confession of sin. Today's confession of sin is a reminder that our sin is forgotten because of God's mercy, and that we are humbled by his act of forgiveness. So together, let's read.

Cleanse us from all our offenses, and deliver us from proud and vain thoughts. With reverent and humble hearts, we draw near to you, confessing our faults. We now confide in your grace, finding in you refuge and strength. Amen. Please be seated. Let us now take in time of private confession of sin.

Is your assurance of pardon? For the Lord does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. As far as the East is from the West, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. Amen. Today's prayer topic is one for our brother Philip and Sister Christopher. Their wedding is this Friday. Long time coming. We're all anticipating going. As you know, most of us here who are married, the stress and just the time consumption of just preparing for a wedding. It takes a toll on uh on your you and your uh your spouse to be. So let's pray that all those little nooks and crannies are tied up nicely before, that they don't have to stress or worry about um about their ceremony.

Let's pray that their ceremony is one that's filled and blessed by the Holy Spirit. Let's pray for a safe celebration. Uh let's pray for them in their housing situation as they look for housing and try to find a home that they can build together. And last but more importantly, let's pray for the Lord to be the foundation of their journey in their joys, trials, and especially their growing pains as husband and wives. This first year is gonna be one that's gonna test them, but one that will set uh just the tone of how their journey as husband and wife is going to be. So let's lift them up in prayer for those topics, we're gonna be able to do that.

We thank you for the journey uh in their individual lives that brought them together. We know that it is ordained by you, that it is your will for them to be together. We pray, Father, for them. As they lead uh this week into their marriage, as to their wedding, we pray that you bless them, that you help them settle any last-minute details, and we pray that uh that their minds would be clear to just focus on their union together in the name of your son. We pray, Father, for the Holy Spirit to bless them in their ceremony. We pray that it would be a place of celebration and worship, Lord. We pray, Father, for a blessing upon just um that the after activities, that everyone would be safe and that uh there would be nothing to nothing to worry about with everyone getting home and just celebrating, having a good time.

But Lord, we just pray for blessing and safety and protection. We also pray for their housing, Lord, that you allow them to find a place that they can settle down together and call their home. We pray, Father, for their first year of marriage, that their foundation will be built around your name, around who you are, around what they believe in the gospel message. Lord, we pray, Father, for you to bless them in their trials and tribulations, in their joy and excitement. We even in their growing pains, Lord, we pray that they would always come back to you and learn to be patient and forgiving. Uh amidst all their uh the things that they're learning about each other as they as they kind of uh get this first year under their belts.

Lord, we pray, Father, that you would just put your hand upon them and truly bless their union. We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to be a part of their community and that they would uh just um embrace uh just the the love and care and encouragement that we bring to them as well. We thank you for this time, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Uh children, you're dismissed. Please follow follow teacher Tiffany out uh for Sunday school. Teacher Sarah is also helping today. Oh, sorry, teacher Abraham is also helping today. So as they're being dismissed, we're gonna go over a few announcements. First announcement is Pastor Peter's installation service. Uh it's coming very soon now. Uh, it's less than a month away, and so I know we're all really excited to have Pastor Peter come and for us to kind of bless and ordain him with all the blessings of other pastors and other uh believers.

Uh, if you want to invite somebody, please let one of your leaders know so we can get an accurate head count. We confirmed there will be about like almost anywhere from 150 to maybe closer to 200 people coming. So we're we're working vigorously. I know that some of you have done uh good work in trying to um make sure that the service is gonna run well with the the camera and online viewing capabilities. So thank you for all the work and everything that we have to prepare. We just want to be thorough with what we have. So just let us know if you're gonna invite anybody. It's gonna be October 13th at 5 p.m. in uh Korean American Presbyterian Church's sanctuary. Uh children's ministry. Uh, there's a new schedule out now for the upcoming rotation of the year.

Uh so Tiff asks to for all of us to take a look at it. Make sure that you mark in your own personal calendars when you're supposed to serve. Uh and if you are not able to serve, again, please go to the sign-up sheet, make sure or check to see who can replace you or figure out someone that can take your place or swap with you uh so that the teacher coverage is done. And last but not least, offering options are Zell, Van Moe, Cash, and check. Pastor Maston. Hey there, how are you? This morning, uh it was interesting because this week um I also got in touch with Pastor Peter this week, and uh we're trying to connect, and he sent me a note uh greetings from Kentucky. Uh so he was in Kentucky at the seminary in Kentucky where one of his um uh interns had been uh is now going for his PhD, and so he was there.

I I wanted to, I and then I didn't say this back to him yet because I'm having lunch with him tomorrow um in Santa Clarita, so we're just connecting that way. Uh but I wanted to say to him, uh he said, greetings from Kentucky. I wanted to say greetings from Tennessee because I was in Tennessee all week, and uh so here we are, you know, and gonna connect back tomorrow in in California and do ministry together. So that was encouraging. But when I was in Tennessee, I took my backpack, and I took things out of my backpack that I normally would have in there, like my clicker for Sunday morning sermon. And so, like when I'm up here clicking away, I can just click really quickly. So it's not gonna be quite as easily uh because I'm gonna be using my phone to click.

Uh so it we'll just kind of follow along and just have fun looking at God's word. But last week we looked at James 4, uh verses 5 through 12, and we talked about having a friendship with God. I mean, there's if there's anything that God has wanted to do right from creation, is be with us. Let me illustrate it this way. I mean, he created the world, and then he created man. And what did he do when he created Adam and Eve? He walked with them in the garden. Why? Because he wanted to be with them. But what did they do? They sinned. And they went and wanted to hide from God. Well, how can you hide from God? I mean, he knows everything, and he knows exactly where you are. And Adam, where art thou?

You know, I, yep, I'm hiding from you, God. Oh, why? Oh, because, you know, and God already knew. But he just wanted to hear. But he'd always wanted to live with people. He'd always wanted to have fellowship with people. When that wasn't gonna happen because of their sin, they were sent out of the garden. And but God says, you know, I still want to, I still want to be where they are. And so what's the next thing you see as you read through scripture? The next thing is they made a little tabernacle. Because God wanted to dwell with people. And but the tabernacle, you know, I mean, just a small area. I mean, how do you, how do you confine God to a small area like that? But God wanted to be with people.

And when that portable small area wasn't the best, then Solomon built a what? A temple where God's presence could be. And if you recall, it was in the Holy of what? Holy of holies. Matter of fact, that's what was torn apart when Jesus died on the cross. The temple, uh the veil of the temple was ripped from the top to the bottom. You would have thought it would have ripped from the bottom to the top because somebody's down here ripping it, but somebody was ripping it. And it was God. And he's ripped it from the top all the way down to the bottom, saying, Because the priest, the high priest had access to that holy of holies. How often? Do you remember? Once a year. And God is wanting to have his presence known amongst people.

So he said, I'm gonna rip this open from the bottom up so that everybody has access to God. That's why it's so unique for us, and I'll say it this way, as Protestants. People who protested, that's where the word Protestant comes from. People who protested and said, wait a minute, I don't need to go through a priest. I have access to God. When Jesus died on the cross, I but get back here. Adam and Eve, they ran from God's presence, even though he wanted to be with them. Then this tabernacle was just so small, and then the temple, oh, but that was confining. And so Jesus, God became flesh and dwelt among us because he wanted to be with us. But what did what did man do? They killed him. The God who wanted to be with them, they killed him.

But he didn't say dead. He resurrected from the dead, he's alive in heaven. And after that, what has he always said? I've always wanted to live with people. I've always wanted to be with them. So how is he how is that possible today? He said, I've got a way that's better than the tabernacle. Better than the temple. Even better than just being embedded in the person of Jesus. I'm gonna do it this way. I'm gonna be willing to live in the lives of every person. Colossians 1.27 says it this way. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Because he's always wanted to live with us. And so he gave away, so now I can live with, he can live with you and you and you and me. And he says, this is what I've always wanted.

I've wanted to have that time with you. To have friendship with God. In the book of Genesis, when you think about what was happening, Genesis 1 4 says it this way. God saw that the light was when he made it. He said, Wow, I saw the light, and it was what? Good. It was good. In Genesis 1.10, it says it this way. God called the dry land earth. And he called the gathering of the water sea. And God saw that it was what? Good. You know, because God is good. And everything that God makes, it's going to be good. It's what's kind of interesting about that, and I'll just throw this out as a little insert here. God created the world. Everything kept saying it's good. It's good. It's good. What's interesting?

Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, right? Genesis 1.2 says this. And the earth became void. And without form. And darkness was about. And you go, wait a minute. Everything that God makes is what? Good. Not void and without form. Something happened between Genesis 1.1 and Genesis 1.2. And while we're not given the details of that, are we? We don't know the details. Why did it get why did it happen to go void and without form? When what God makes is good. And we say, something, just by our understanding, something must have happened there. And we know something happened in heaven because Satan wanted to rebel against God and become like God. And then was kicked out of heaven.

And while we don't know it from Scripture, we say, When did that happen? Well, if he created the world and everything in it, and he's good. And then became void and without food. Something happened between Genesis 1.1 and Genesis 1.2. And then as you look at it here, what keeps happening? What keeps happening is up here for a second. What keeps happening here is everything he made is good. God saw it was good. In Genesis 1.12, it says this.

And trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. So three times so far, what's what's he done? He's made something. And what did he say? Oh, that was good. That was good. You wonder how if he didn't smile. I mean, let's face it. Do you ever do something and say, that was good? You know, it's just, I can't see God in any braggadocious way. But for him to do it and go, oh, that, oh, that's good. He goes on in Genesis 1 and 17 and 18. God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth to dominate the day and the night, to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was what? Man, it's it's good. It goes on. Genesis 1.21.

God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water according to their kind. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that was good. Man, he's God. I would say it from a human point of view. Wow, he's on a roll. This is good, and this is good, and this is good, and this is good. He goes on. God made the wildlife on the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds, and God saw what? It was good. This was all chapter one. By the time you get to chapter two, it says this. Then the Lord said, It is not good for man to be alone. Do I highlight that for you so that you have it?

The very first thing he said was not good that was man should be alone. What's interesting to me is that I think they're it's almost a sense that God made all these animals, all these creatures that had mates. They were going to reproduce after their kinds because they had mates. But God, listen to me for a second. This is speculation again. Okay. But I almost think that God let man have to live alone for a while. So that when he made the woman, he'd say, Oh, thank goodness. I have somebody I can talk to. Somebody, oh, this is wonderful. You know, because if he'd have made her too soon, he'd have said, what's she doing here? You know, I don't need her. But he left man around long enough to say, uh, wait a minute, Lord, uh, they have mates and they have mates, and they can, but what happened here?

A guy sent me these pictures. It said, everyone needs friends. It's kind of a hard for me to imagine, you know, a monkey and a kitten. He sent several other pictures. Everyone needs a friend. Here's another one. Everyone needs a what? A friend. I can't imagine how they even got pictures like this. And then another one. Everyone needs a friend. And then perhaps this last one. Everyone needs a friend. It's hard to believe. This little girl up on her tiptoes, you know, wanted to with this 1500-pound horse. I think parents, unless they really knew the horse would be saying, stay back, stay back, and it'll get hurt. You know, because every everybody needs a friend. And all these friends that I've showed you pictures of are what?

They're temporary. Right? Because they will all what? They're gonna all die. They're gonna all die. Our problem is we often want to be a friend of the world rather than a friend of God. And so what's he say in our text? You adulterous people. By the way, I've already said to you what's interesting in this text, is this is just feminine. You not adulterers and adulteresses. This is just you adulteresses. Now, in the translation here, they kind of combined it both. Adulterers and adulteresses. You you adulterous people. But really, and the reason I said he probably did that is because what are we called?

We as the church are called the what? The bride of Christ. And so when we have an affair with the world, he's saying in that way. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Whoever wants to be uh the friend of the world becomes what? The enemy of God. Instead of this really friendship that God has wanted, this closeness that God has always wanted, we decide, no, I'm gonna be a friend of the world. I know he wants to be our friends. Because in John, he says it this way in John 15. No one is great uh has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends. Look at I'm having having it blink on and off.

If you do what? What I command. That's, did you catch in our reading this morning of the catechism? It was this very thing that it talked about. That we keep his commands. That we do what he says. And so he says, You're my friends. I've always wanted. So here's the sermon in a sentence. You can be a friend of God. It's hard for the world to understand this. You can be a friend of God. And in this text, I said to you last week, there are ten imperatives, ten commands in this section of scripture that can reveal our friendship with God. And so he starts down. He just, and I said to you last week, there are more commands, percentage wise, in the book of James than any other New Testament book.

And that's why, wow, right here. One, two, three, four. He's just rattling off in verses seven, chapter four, verses seven through eleven, he's giving you ten commands. First command, second command. And the first command is, oh, yeah, you're going to submit to God. Do you remember the Greek word that's used here?

Hupo, we get our English prefixed, a hypo from a hypodermic needle. Something that goes hypo means under. Somebody doesn't have enough sugar in their system. They are hypoclecemic. They're under what they need to be. And so hypotasso, hypotasso, is you put yourself under this arrangement. If a private in the military looked at a general and said, I don't have to listen to you. He wouldn't be very long in the military, or he's going to be in the brig. He's not gonna, he's not gonna do well because he's not arranging himself under the leadership of the person that's over him in authority. And God is simply saying, submit to God. He's the commander in chief.

And we're the privates. You know, that hey, okay, Lord, I'm gonna submit to you. The second thing he said is resist the devil. Resist the devil. And what I said to you last week is this. When you resist the devil, God's word says he'll flee from you. And what I said to you last week was this.

That wow, they can have a power that's greater than the problems of this world if they want to invite Jesus to come into their lives. And then the third thing that we looked at last week was draw near to God. Draw near to God, and the text says, draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you. And what I said, uh my wife was here last week, and I said, you know, if I went over and put my arms around her and I drew near to her, you know what her response would be? You know, to hug me back and to draw near. And that's, you know, you you, you that are married, and that, you know, when you draw near your wife, you want that. You love her as Christ loved the church. And she'll draws, she draws near back to you.

And so those are the first three. Let me give you the next one now. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. And then the next one, purify your hearts. And then the next one, endure hardships. What's interesting there is the translation, uh, the Christian Standard Bible translation. Uh translates it in this way, you know, learn to put up with difficult times. And then mourn and weep. Almost sounds the same, doesn't it? If I'm mourning, if I'm weeping, I'm probably mourning. But there's a difference here. And then humble yourself before God. Man, I don't see how anybody could preach all ten of these in 40 minutes. You know, he's saying, do this. This is a command. This is a command. This is command.

This is not a request. This is our God conveying to us. I want to be your friends. Just like I wanted to be with Adam and Eve. And you don't want to submit. You're not resisting the devil. You're not drawing near to me. But I want to be your friend. And by the way, you know the song that we sang this morning from Psalm 51, created me a clean heart, oh God, renew a right spirit within me. That's a wonderful one when it comes to cleanse your hands. But let me remind you, listen to me carefully. That's an old testament passage. And it has some things that don't apply to us today. For instance, create me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence.

What did he say in the New Testament? I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Wait a minute. That's Old Testament. The Holy Spirit would come on people and then leave people. And remember Samson when Delilah finally got through to his strength and his power. And God's word, King James here. He whisked not. He whisked not. He didn't understand that the Lord's power and the Holy Spirit had left him. Because in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit didn't stay with people. But when we sing it, that's a wonderful idea and thought, you know. But I just want you to be clear. He's never going to turn his back on you if you're a believer. He's never going to leave you or forsake you.

He's not going to take his Holy Spirit from you because he sealed you into the body of Christ with His Holy Spirit. Correct. So, so he's saying, look, I want to be close to you. Humble yourself. Let me give you the last one. Don't criticize others. Really? He's going to give me that last one and smack me around. Because what do people do all the time? I can't believe they did that. I can't believe she said that. Oh, I can't believe he said that. Why do? Man, what a, you know, what do we do with people? And he's saying, look, this is a command. I want you to be my friend. And you're going to reveal it by submitting to me and resisting the devil. And the last one by not criticizing others. So let's look at this one.

Cleanse your hands. Okay? Cleanse your hands. Why on earth is he giving that? Let me read it to you in the text. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Cleanse your hands, sinners. What's interesting? In the Greek, here's what it says. Cleanse hands, sinners. You don't even make a here. Cleanse hands, sinner. Here's the Greek word that's used in this uh text, ketorizo. Keteridzo. There's an English word. It always amazes me. Yeah. We say we don't know language and understand some things and foreign language. But a lot of our English words come from Greek words.

And you've seen that as I've been with you this last year.

What English word do you think comes from this? I'm gonna that I'm just gonna I didn't do it letter for letter on the screen, so I'll do it this way. The kappa there actually becomes a C. I mean, we in our in our English language we can say, how would you write the word cat? C-A-T, right? Oh, but if you have a kit cat, candy bar, what do they make? That's with a K. Because they both can make that sound. Cat or cataridzo. So change it to a C. That K, make a C. The Alpha, make an A. The theta that's on the screen, make a T H because that's what it is. So C A T-H A. The next Greek word is the row, the letter R. And let me do this.

Catharsis is the Greek, is the English word. It's a Greek word up here. It's the English word that comes from the Greek. You have a catharsis. What on earth? He's saying, I want you to cleanse your cleanse your hands. Let them have a catharsis. So let me just slide this over here and drop it in this way. A catharsis is the process of releasing things that are in your grasp. If something's in your grasp, he says, look, you have your your hands. I want you to, I want you to cleanse your hands. I want you to be able to let go of some of the things.

There are things in my life that perhaps I'm hanging on to that are blocking God's friendship with me. I mean, he he says, I'm a friends, if you keep my commands. But you know, I I want to have that nothing between. There used to be a song, nothing between my soul and the savior, not of this world's elusive goods. Nothing preventing the least of his favor. Keep the way clear, let nothing between.

Let me give you a few pictures of things that can get in between and block from our understanding, not our relationship with God, but just in the world. Psychologists love the word catharsis. You know, let it go. You know, that what is that Disney song, Disneyland song? Let it go, let it go. That's the only thing I know of the song. You know, the and the kids, you know, say, let it go, let it go. You know, and so as psychologists, let it go. But God is saying, look, you've got things that you're hanging on to. Yeah, you want to be a friend of the world. And God is saying, let it go. In this text, English, he's saying, cleanse your hands. But really, what he's saying is, have a catharsis with your hands.

Let it go. Don't grasp, don't hang on. And again, there are things in this world that block and need to be cleaned out and let go. Let me give you this picture. Here's a a picture uh in near Lima, Peru. And in this in this picture, all the settlement, all the clay, all the mud has come across the road. And it needs to have a catharsis. It needs to get the things out of the way so that they can get through. God is saying there are things in your life that need to get out of the way so that we can have that friendship and that time. Let me give you another picture. You understand this one. What's it doing? It's blocking the way. And it's within your not our hands, but some work went come along.

And what are they gonna have to do? They're gonna have to cut this thing apart and take, and it's gonna take hours because it's it's blocking the way. Let me give you something else. It's more simple that blocks the way. It doesn't it doesn't take a big old tree to block the way. Think of your your city drains.

And before you know it, what are they doing? They're blocking that way. And it needs to be cleaned out so I can get through. Or can I can I bring this? Can I really bring this home to you? Pun intended here. Can I really bring this home? Let me give you this picture of what happens in your home in the drain and the hair that gets in the drain and it does what? It blocks the way. And oh yeah, let's get back here. Let's get that out of screen and say, look, the process is releasing things that are in your grasp and getting them out of the way so that God says cleanse your hands, sinners. This is the fourth of the Ten Commands where he's these aren't the ten Old Testament canons, these are the Ten Commands in James that say, look, you become friends of the world, and don't be that.

I want to be your friend. I've always wanted to be your friend. And so what let me slide this up and drop this in.

I guess you could wash, you could put a bar of soap in one hand and kind of run it around or something, but and you're going like this with your toothbrush. It's look, you can't, you you need to let things go to have this cutter zone. Let me ask you this. What are you holding on to today that perhaps is blocking that friendship with God? I would say to you single guys, and to us married people, when when you're married, you can hang on to things that your spouse doesn't like, and it's not going to endear you to her. You decide maybe she doesn't like dogs, and you have the best dog. You're gonna that dog is gonna come come with you into the marriage.

You know, and sometimes you need to decide whether you're gonna hang on or whether you're gonna let go.

Just this moment, okay, uh, in terms of this sermon. I I had a very, very dear uh friend. I there was a point in my life where I I wasn't looking at the ministry, I wasn't looking at being a pastor. The last thing I wanted at one point in my life was to be a pastor. Because everybody goes, Oh, you're a pastor. Let me back away from that. I don't know, you know. The world doesn't want to get close with anybody that wants to be godly, and so I, you know, I did want to be a pastor, and my buddy and I decided, oh, let's go into politics. So we were in Washington. We were doing stuff. We were heading that way. And everybody would remember me in this political organization because I was the youth guy at this church over here.

And so anytime they needed prayer for a political event, who they call? Oh, they called me. And so I got to really be known. And this guy was really my friend. And my wife would say, hey, but you're my buddy was Rich Gathrow. That was his name. And Rich and I would, every time we had extra time, I hang with him. This was as I was dating my wife to be. And she said, wait a minute. If I give up everything for you, but the Lord, will you give up everything for me? Like Rich, Gathro. And, you know, where you're headed. I would say to you, they want to know, and we talked about this last week. They're wanting an exclusive relationship. That's what God wants with us. That's why he called them adulterous people.

Because they wanted a relationship with God and they wanted a relationship with the world. They didn't want exclusivity. So let me illustrate it from scripture, though. Let me take you back to Genesis 20. Abraham. Here's what the text says. Abraham traveled to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadash and Shur. While he lived in Giar, Abraham said about his wife Sarai.

At that point, her name had been changed. His name had been changed from Abraham, Abram to Abraham. And he said, Wow, she's beautiful. Abraham said about his wife Sarah. She is my sister. Now get this.

But a half-truth here. She was his half-sister. They had the same father, but different mothers. So Abraham said about his wife Sarah. She's my sister. So Abimelech, king of Gyar, had Sarah brought to him. Because she's beautiful. And they Abraham thinks they're going to kill me so they can get you. So say you're my sister. The text goes on. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, You are about to die. Because of the woman you have taken, because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman. No, Abimelech had not approached her. They had not been intimate, they had not had sex. He approached her. So he said, Lord, would you destroy a nation even though it is innocent?

Didn't Abraham himself, that's he himself, didn't Abraham himself say to me, She is my sister. And she herself, Sarah, said, He is my brother. I did this with a clear conscience and what? Clean hands. I have not taken her into my arms. I have not taken her into my hands. I did not know she was married. Then God said to him in a dream, Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I have not let you touch her. Let me let me talk about that just for a second. Abraham had he lied. He told the half-truth. That's why when we put people on the witness stand, when you as a lawyer, you know, say, okay, raise your hand. Take this oath.

I swear to tell the truth. What's the next phrase? The whole truth. Not a half-truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help me God. Okay? That's why we have that. It's based on things like this. And he's saying, you know, there are people, there are Christians that this arm is hanging on to the Lord, this hand, and this hand is wanting to hang on to the world. And that's why he says, hey, let it go. Cleanse your hand, you sinners. In Psalm 24 on the screen, it says this, who may ascend the mountain of the Lord. Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has what? Clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully. What is he saying?

Look, I want you to have clean hands.

But before I moved away from clean hands, let me illustrate it this way. And I don't know what we're going to use for a schedule today because we started late. But it's it's kind of closing time. Uh so let me give this illustration, and maybe we'll wrap it up and go to the, you know, I mean, I I only have next week to kind of finish off things here on this. Uh, but when it comes to clean hands, let me use this illustration. There was a doctor in uh about 1846, who was um he was asked to go and help out in a hospital where they were losing a lot of babies, and he tried to put together, he was trying to analyze why, what's going on, and so here's what was interesting, interestingly happening.

It was back in an era when doctors hadn't done research yet, and they didn't know exactly why germs and things got spread. This guy came to the hospital and and immediately started to put down research because they noticed that when the men doctors did the birthing, they had more babies dying. And when the midwife's the women were having the birthing, they were having just very few babies dying. And so he he began to what's going on here, and so he tried one thing. He said, you know, the men aren't doing this, and the the women aren't doing are are doing this, so he tried that and that didn't change. The the men were having the birthing with the uh the women on their backs or vice versa, I forget which which it was.

One of them had women birthing on their backs, and one of them had women in another position. So he said, let's let's switch it up. Didn't change a thing. The men still had greater deaths. So he began to observe some more. When the birthing was going to take place at the main area where the nurse's station was, they had a bell. And when uh baby was getting ready to be born, they'd ring the bell, and in would come the Catholic priest. And so he that was when the birthing mothers were doing it. Not so with the men. So they he switched that out. He said, let's move the bell, you know, out and see that, you know, and then not have the priest come in, see if that makes a difference. Well, obviously that's not gonna make any difference, you know.

And so he began to observe more. He was gone for a week, came back, and he'd had time to think about it. He said, Wow, the men doctors are doing procedures on dead people as well. They're doing autopsies. And so he thought, maybe that has something to do with it. And one of the doctors pricked his hand with a needle that he had used on an autopsy, and he died with the same disease that the babies are dying of. And he says, Wow, you know, maybe, you know, somehow that is being carried back to the men's side of things. He finally put it together and realized one of the greatest discoveries in medicine to protect people was discovered in 1846.

And you know what it was? Wash your hands before you do the surgeries. And so what do you see? Doctors today, and they're in there and they're they're yeah, they're they're scrubbing it and they're doing it, and then after they're all done, you know, for this long period of time, you're you're right, they they got their hands and they're going in like this, they're not touching anything, and after that was done, you know what happened? It was the absolute truth, and doctors practice it. It's it's really a thing today, but that guy was rejected in the hospital. Why? Because the men doctors, the women were taking care of me, washing their hands and weren't handling dead bodies, and the men, they were saying, Oh, he's trying to blame us for these deaths, and their pride got him fired.

You know what's interesting? God wants us to have clean hands, and what is he saying? Let go, let go. I said this morning when I got my car to get ready to leave. I I unplugged my car in the garage, hung up the electric thing, and I said to my wife, I'm so glad I don't have to go to the gas station anymore. I put it in there, and she's she's just kind of giving me a rough time about it. And I said, you know, I don't have to go to the gas station and handle the pump that a gazillion other people have handled after picking their nose and after touching things that I don't want to touch. Do you understand that? You know what's interesting? When the old testament priest was going to do something in the Lord's house, what did he have to do?

Wash his hands. Why? And why does he even say that? I'm gonna give you one last illustration. That, you know, if you go to a really truly third world country, you don't touch the hands of most people. Why? Because they eat with this hand, and what do they do with this hand? Things you don't want to think about, but they do their bathroom needs. They don't have toilet paper, and so they're not putting this hand anywhere near. They're not rubbing their eyes, and they're not. Do you understand? Clean hands are important to God, but even more important is a pure heart.

Because clean hands are outside. And a pure heart is where? Inside. And there are people that can have clean appearances. We'll talk about this next week. Outside. But inside. They're not what they should be. And so what does God say to you and to me? Listen, I want to be your friend. Let me put it on the screen this way. With this question. Are you a friend of Jesus? He says, You're my friend if you do what I command. He said, I'm going to live. I've always wanted to live with people. I'm living in you. But we we say we tell these little kids to learn this song. Oh, be careful, little hands, what you do. Oh, be careful, little hands, what you do. For the father of above is looking down and love.

So be careful, little hands, what you do. Can I say that still applies to us as adults? He says, cleanse your hands, you sinners. There's a guy by the name of N right. He doesn't want his first name, I guess, in middle name to be known. N T right, W-R-I-G-H-T. He's somewhat liberal. That doesn't mean I don't read him because I want to know what liberal people are saying about the word of God at times as well. One of the articles that the Master's University put out was a play on words. Is N T right or wrong? W-R-I-G-H-T or wrong. Just kind of playing on that words.

But here's what, and I'll just end with this quote. The one who does who decides to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Not because God hates him, but because he hates God. Do you catch that? Because if you're a friend of the world, you're an enemy of God. You hate God. And so today let's say, Lord, I want to learn to let go, not hang on to the things. I want to have clean hands. So I can enjoy that friendship with you. Let's pray together, shall we? Heavenly Father, we just pause right now to ask you to grab a hold of our hearts and hands.

That our lives could be in close friendship with you. Father, let us be your friends. And so today, we want to come to you just as we are. Sinful. We've trusted you as our Savior, but we still sin. Father, that's why as a congregation, every week we confess our sins as a congregation corporately and as individuals.

So Father, I'm praying that this week our hands would be pure before you. Help us to let go of things that are impeding our relationship with you. Help us to draw near to you. So that you draw near to us as well. Father, we're asking that the world won't be able to tempt us by placing things before us that we think we need to have.

Move from our hands to our hearts.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's all respond. All stand and respond to worship. We just come before him and just lay on the grounds and our burdens before him. Just worship our holy God. We fall down. We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.

At the feet of Jesus we cry holy holy we cry holy holy we cry holy holy.

We lay our cross at the feet of Jesus of mercy and love at the feet holy.

I love that song because you know that there are only a few places in Scripture, and this is one of them, where God doesn't say love, love, love. But when the angels cry out to God, what do they cry? Holy, holy, holy. Just three three times. I mean, just he doesn't want us to miss. That's what God's all about. And then when he saves us, he embeds that holiness in us. And he sees us as holy and without blame before him in love, because of his holiness and not mine. Let's just close in prayer today, shall we? Heavenly Father, I thank you for this congregation, and I pray that you would lay your hand on them so that they are used this week to point someone to you to encourage someone along the way and to walk more closely with this with you this week, so that they would be a friend of God, a friend of yours, and not a friend of the world.

Amen. God bless. Have a good week.