Tonight, we'll be coming back and considering the birth of Christ. You'll notice the tie between the two sermons. This morning's sermon is titled, Following Jesus for All the Wrong Reasons. And tonight, we'll come back and look at following Jesus for all the right reasons. We're going to look at Mark chapter 2 this morning. I invite you to turn in the scriptures to Mark chapter 2. We'll read verses 13 through 22. 13 through 22 our text will be and the focus of the message will be in verses 18 through 22 and this question about fasting i want to say up front this will be a a sermon that challenges us as jesus challenged the people of his day and their motivation for following we should receive that for what it is the lord's intention is to do what we just sung out from that psalm to lift people up who are willing to hear his challenge and hear the call to follow him in the way that he wants us to follow him so this is a mark chapter 2 beginning at verse 13 this is the word of the lord he went out again by the sea and all the crowd was coming to him and he was teaching them and as he passed by he saw levi the son of alpheus sitting at the tax booth and he said to him follow me and he rose and followed him and as he reclined at the table in his house many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with jesus and his disciples for there were many who followed him and the scribes of the pharisees when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors said to his disciples why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners and when jesus heard it he said to them those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick i came not to call the righteous but sinners and now our text now john's disciples and the pharisees were fasting and people came and said to him why do john's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast. And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment if he does the patch tears away from it the new from the old and a worse tear is made and no one puts new wine skins into old wine skins if he does the wine will burst the skins and the wine is destroyed and so are the skins but new wine is for fresh wine skins may the lord bless the hearing of his word I recently read an article by Kristen Powers and her article which was in Christianity Today was titled becoming a Christian ruined my love for Christmas and she writes in this article Christmas lost its luster for me the rank materialism became too much a bear, and the Christmas season morphed from being a time I savored into something I tried to survive each year. Santa Claus, Christmas trees, the holiday jingles, they all felt like pagan oppression. When people complained about a war on Christmas, I often smirked and thought to myself, where do I sign up? Honestly, when a sale at Crate and Barrel gets entangled with the birth of Jesus Christ, something has gone horribly wrong. But then I realized that I had allowed the secular celebrations of Christmas to crowd out its transcendent meaning. As theologian N.T. Wright points out, it's Christmas that is the moment when God launched a divine rescue mission of humankind. Interesting from Christian Powers, isn't it? Interesting article. I wonder what Jesus thinks of this time of year. Do you? People are claiming to come and to celebrate his birth, but is that really what's going on? I think about that a lot at this time of year. I always have. It's not an easy time by any means, especially for pastors. Have our secular traditions, as she notes, have they really clouded out the meaning of his coming? So that if we were confronted in a direct, personal way that exposed our own hypocrisy, we wouldn't take to it very well. It might be closer to home than you think. Let's do that just for a moment. I told you I'm going to challenge you. What if Christmas happened on Monday? It has, of course. Would we feel content to worship on Sunday? Or would we feel like something is lacking without it? What if we didn't get to sing all the Christmas songs? Does it really matter to us about the words that we sing? Be honest. Does it really matter about the words that we sing? Most Christmas songs, if we're honest, are sappy and theologically stripped of meaningful content. Is our singing really about, at this time of year, the truth as it is in Jesus? Is it? how much of the season is followed by the outward decorating of our homes the trees us to the neglect of the real mess that's going on inside what would jesus say about that how would you feel if jesus said to those celebrating cultural christmas you are whitewashed tombs On the inside, beautiful on the outside, and yet on the inside, you're full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Bother you? He said it. You think Jesus would praise outward pomp and show when we have neglected the weightier matters for which he came? I have noticed that our most packed out Sunday night service is Christmas program night. You draw the conclusion. why do people come to worship or to hear the kids what do you think jesus would think about people coming to endure the worship just to get to the kids singing what do you think now you can answer that i don't have to press it probably makes you uncomfortable what if jesus said to us that much of our religious devotion and piety is full of show, full of ostentatious, it's ostentatious and false. What if he said that to us? If you feel any amount of tension or any amount of frustration or you're worried about somebody coming in and hearing this message today who might not like it, I can tell you that I have just interjected you into the scene before you. The Pharisees are furious at Jesus for what has just happened. And the situations aren't so different, you're going to see. Everything that Jesus has been doing and everything that Jesus has been saying is a threat to everything that they have come to represent. Jesus was a problem for them. Jesus was a problem for their false religion and their false piety. It challenges us in our supposed ties and practices to Him as to whether what we're doing and what we are really involved with when we say we're going to follow Jesus, we're going to be Christians, comes with an understanding that is compatible with his ongoing program of redemptive grace and our need for that, your need for that, my need for that. The passage before us confronts us with something that we should think a lot about and how appropriate it is at this time of year because before us are dutiful Jews, before us are devoted Jews observing their laws and being confronted with Jesus who has stripped away all of their self-confidence, who has confronted their artificial show and has stripped away the reason that they are coming and following and is exposing this, challenging them and challenging us in the whole mix to think a lot about what it means to be identified with Him. I pray today that you can say as we end this I am one of these needy tax collectors and sinners who needs the Savior that's the goal of this because for those the Lord's desire is to encourage lift up and give you the true meaning for which he came so that you can enjoy the forgiveness of your sin I have two points this morning can you believe that I have two points and the two points are we are considering their traditional accusation and Jesus' gospel response. Their traditional accusation and Jesus' gospel response. You can't really understand this section on fasting and what is presented before us this morning. You've got to keep it together with what just came before. You can't separate it. The whole scene has been set off by Jesus' call of Levi or Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him. That is what has inaugurated this. That is what has set off some major problems, even going back, of course, to his declaration in the house, which is probably the key point that set everything off, when he claimed the ability to forgive sins and did it. They knew what he was claiming when he did that and accused him of blasphemy. As Jesus was passing by in verse 13, he stopped by the tax booth there. We looked at last time that was by the sea, and he looks upon Levi. Levi was in the tax booth. He was a notorious sinner in the people's eyes. Nobody was as loathed in Jewish society as the tax collector or the publicani. He was hated and loathed, considered filthy, dirty, and the scum of society. Jesus stops and he looks upon him and in complete power and authority as we've been seeing with Mark with the coming of the kingdom and the speaking as he does, he speaks, follow me and up he is. That's how powerful it is. We tend to look at when we say follow and focus on, man, we all got to get up and follow. That is not the focus in Mark. Mark's focus is on the power of Jesus' words to say it and up he went. Boom. And he never went back. It's a glorious section showing the power of Christ when he effectually calls someone out of their darkness, their souls are raised, they're brought into the light. A beautiful, powerful section. Well, the next thing we read is that Levi had thrown a party for his tax-collecting buddies. And verse 15 is building here. Verse 15 is building and showing us that Jesus is now dining in levi's house with these tax collectors and mark adds sinners it's provocative there's no doubt they sat with jesus they did and we read that astonishingly we could read right over it that many of these tax collectors and sinners many of them started following jesus it's a remarkable section it's a beautiful section and and what we have here is the ultimate celebration that is pictured for us it's a much bigger scene in the gospels than we give credit for it motivated a lot of jesus's parables of the prodigal son and we'll look at one here in a minute in fact the key to notice it is that mark says jesus was eating and drinking with them very important he is eating the wine is out he's forgiving sins he is sitting with these people on the one hand it's an absolutely inconceivable scene in israel how dare he associate with these dead unclean dogs and on the other hand you have a scene of joy you have a scene of laughter you have a scene of peace jesus is forgiving their sins and they have brand new life brand new the old is gone the new has come feast now what we read is that the scribes of the pharisees in the middle of that section it's an interesting twist but they criticize him for doing this And one of the most provocative, uncomfortable, correcting statements ever made in the Scriptures, Jesus spoke of the heart of His mission. Those who are well have no need of a physician. And we know from the other Gospels, He says, for those who are sick, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You think you are doing so well. You think you are a fine upholder and keeper of the tradition. You think you are a law keeper. As the great physician, I'm not calling you. I didn't come for people like that. You're on your own. If that's what you're after and that's what you think, you're on your own. And that's why I quoted the Machen quote last time that said Jesus didn't himself even come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. We should be no more successful than he. And his point was that Jesus' mission was not to them. So if the church is going to give the message that everyone's good and everyone's doing fine, you're going to have an unsuccessful mission because that is not the mission of Jesus. Now, you have to set that scene in your minds for a moment to understand what follows and what we're about to consider. This has now brought another accusation. This has caused another accusation. The accusations are growing against him, and I've called it the traditional accusation. What we have here is a shift to religious observance in Mark. You'll notice that here. We work from fasting to Sabbath observance and then we're in the temple again. It's very important because following this statement comes the issues of observance, of Jewish worship observances. Well, read in verse 18 of chapter 2, now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting and people came and said to him, why do John's disciples and the disciples of the pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast everyone should stop at this point and say well we now have three sets of disciples here did you catch that you've got the disciples of jesus you've got the disciples of john and you've got the disciples of the pharisees and ironically all of them are following jesus he's the center isn't he three sets of disciples and you'll notice here in this fascinating scene everyone is identified with him somehow some way it has led to massive following of him keep in mind he had said to levi follow me and now look at all the followers of him he's the center of everyone everyone has to answer the question what do we do with this jesus and it got so bad at one point that Jesus would break up all the superficial followers probably these guys in John 6 he stepped up the teaching to drive them away remember that many of the disciples went and followed him no longer the Pharisees were out influencing many people they had strange alliances Mark picks up on this here he picks up on the first one here later in Mark he'll say that the Pharisees and the Herodians plotted together against Jesus, which was the oddest combination you could come against. This one is bad too. These were the disciples of John. So you have an alignment here now of the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees and the Pharisees themselves leading the pack. Why had this alignment, why had this alliance happened against him? The answer is not very hard to figure out. The answer is Jesus, what he was doing, did not seem to be bringing in the kingdom of God as they thought it should come. John himself was confused, remember? John needed correction. And Jesus would help John to understand when he said, listen, the kingdom has come because the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. John, that's the kingdom. That's the kingdom. That's not what they wanted from the kingdom. They wanted the restoration of Israel. They wanted the transformation of everything right then and there. They wanted the Roman Empire to be put down. They wanted restoration to Israel. But most of all, the confusion for the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees is seen in the fact that Jesus' actions seemed to be completely undermining all their acts of outward piety. All their acts of devotion. Why do I say that? Did you catch what was said? They were fasting. Now, do you understand what that means? Here's the scene. Jesus has purposely and provocatively sat down and now he's eating and drinking with the tax collectors and sinners and we put it together at the very moment of the appointed Jewish fasts. Think about that. Everything he is doing is an open violation to their form, Judaism. He's claimed authority to forgive sins. Who can do that except God alone, they say. He calls the greatest thug to himself, Matthew, Levi, and now he sits and dines with all of them in Matthew's home. And while they're at their appointed fasts, they can't eat, they can't even come in because these are defiled sinners. They are fasting and won't enter the house as Jesus is presenting the wine and eating. And what you come across here in Mark's gospel is the fact that we have two competing agendas going on that are set in opposition to each other. We have seen this in this entire section. Christ's agenda is forgiveness and grace. Freedom, joy, feasting. This is what he desires to bring. Jesus had said, I came for sinners. And the imager you have is they've turned to him and he has turned their sorrow into joy. That's the scene of this. That's so encouraging in this first part when we put these scenes together. It's a scene of joy. It's a scene of happiness. It's a scene of the Lord of hosts blessing his people, the sinners and the tax collectors. What was the agenda of the leaders? It was a system of works righteousness. club, the club is furious at this. It's legalism. And you see that come out here. You know how this works. When you're convicted against something or somebody has convicted you and your life is exposed, if you don't want to hear that, what is the first thing you do? You throw it back at them. I hate to use gem analogies, but I'll just use it. It just came to my mind. My wife tells me never to do this, but when I was at the gym, I was doing something wrong on the bike or whatever, and some guy comes up and corrects me, and the first thing I said, I see you do it wrong all the time. This is what we do. When a child or a teenager is corrected, and the parent comes to them, what is the classic now? What do we expect? Well, you did that when you were young, right? There's something similar here. In verse 18, this alliance of disciples strikes back. Why do your disciples, why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but yours don't? You should know what that is. It's important to understand what motivated this. Jesus had just said, I didn't come for the righteous, but I came to bring sinners to repentance. Now keep in mind, it's the appointed Jewish fast. He has chosen openly to eat with these unclean rebels. And so it goes something like this. Here's the charge. Wait a minute. Just what are you proposing here? Just what are you doing here? What are you supporting here? Who are you calling? We're the ones fasting. but you're the one neglecting the outward acts of piety and devotion that should be in place if you're legitimate do you hear the charge your lack of piety is glaring and it's now being diffused into your own disciples you're an antinomian jesus you're an antinomian he's being charged with that here we're the ones upholding the law do you really want to draw the comparison between the righteous and sinners what you're doing is lawless there's a contrast going on here of grace and works law and gospel and jesus is facing the charge. The law of Moses, here's the fact. The law of Moses required one fast a year. One. Do you know what the meaning of the fast was? We've all struggled with that a little bit. We always wonder, should I be fasting? Who did and why did they fast? Was it to trim down the belly storyline, be a good thing this time of year, huh? Every time growing up I was pressed to fast, I was told that it was a way of bringing about a better Christian life. It was popular when I grew up for youth groups to have these days of fast, and we'd all get together and we'd fast publicly. I always felt guilty because I never attended the fast. I didn't, you know, did I not fast enough? And if I were really going to be, the sense was, if I were really going to be a super christian i should get on the fast these acts of more devotion needed to be done because i'm really not living the christian life that that was i mean i'm sure if i surveyed today and asked you about fasting we would come up it will help you live the christian life better that would be your general answer right do you know the intention in the law of moses for the fast the one only one commanded fast? Guess when it was on? The Day of Atonement. There were other voluntary fasts, free will fasts. This is the only commanded fast. The Jews understood it this way. Here it is, Leviticus 16. This shall be a statute forever for you. In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. For on that day, the priest shall make atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. Did you hear the intention? It's a Sabbath of solemn rest for you. You shall afflict your souls. Everyone across the board understood in Judaism that that meant you fast. That was the only appointed fast in the Old Testament. They believed. Again, there were free will fasts. There were other fasts. But not this is the one commanded. At least the Jewish writings understood it that way. The intention of the fast then was what? To humble themselves before God because of their sins. And that, their sins, would bring about the death of the Lamb. Here's the tragic irony. Their fast should have led them to brokenness and contriteness of heart. Here were publicans and tax collectors fulfilling what the task, the fast was meant to do. See the hypocrisy? Instead of that, their practices led them to self-confidence in themselves. In their extreme piety and devotion, they said, you know, we can do better than one fast a year. So they added to the law of God two fasts a week. We know this. Mondays and Thursdays. Do you know what that did? it wrecked the meaning of the fast when they added to the law of God. Does that make sense now? Does this make sense now? With all this background, with this scene in front of you, do you understand this? He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week. And I give tithes of all that I possess. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Look at what it had become. Do you see why the New Testament is showing us this mammoth problem? It's a big problem of running up in the community. I've tried to emphasize this before. They created a hedge around the law. They had the law. They built something over the law. And all of their traditions over the law and around the law became their new avenue to God. That's legalism. So that if they were confronted about religious observance or extra services and their hypocrisy, they would have been furious if Jesus hit in those areas. Oh, you can't touch those things. But what had happened was their hedge around the law kept them from experiencing what the law was designed to do in the first place. The fast was an opportunity for repentance. Keep in mind, I didn't come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. See how dangerous this is? We're a church with years of practices. Traditions, good tradition. Tradition is good when it's biblical and honoring to the law of God. But do you know what can happen? We've had practices for years and we can begin to build a lot of confidence in what we're doing. Are special services wrong? No. But we think we're going to go above and beyond for God in them. You've crossed a big line. We have a path for that. Our approach to church can be one that is familiar. And the practices and the things that we hold become the badges. We've got it all marked out here. We've got, here's what you do. You go this, you go to the Christian school, you got it all figured out. We're going to go the extra mile for God, we're going to do it right. It's not ultimately about the way that God has defined things, what is right or wrong, and why right and wrong matters or the ultimate intention of them. We're confident in the acts of piety. The approach to God is no longer about coming on His terms. We've built a hedge around it. This is how we'll get to Him. They shielded themselves from the intention of the law this way. And you see that. The practice of fasting should have brought them broken and contrite hearts. Are you getting that with the scribes and the Pharisees in the community? The confidence was in their acts for God. Regardless of meaning, it became an avenue to critique everyone else then. You see? And the standard of our critique was, you lack our level of piety and godliness. You understand that? You could be doing a million acts of cultural piety. You could be doing a million acts of religious devotion. You could do these for 80 years of your life and be dead in the pew. devoid of what these things are led and intended to lead you to when done properly. I've told you, to be personal, you know, we went to church, my father, we always were in church Sunday mornings. Every Sunday morning growing up, church just like this, same building and everything. Every Sunday morning we got in the car. Every Sunday morning we stopped by the Lifesaver store. I mean, without, we never missed. We had the candy to get us through. I think, and we've talked about this, he would say that we had some measure of confidence that we did what we know we should do. And even in that service that we attended, even though there wasn't much going on in the home in terms of Bible reading and prayer growing up, It just wasn't there. We felt that some sort of confidence in the fact that we did that every week. But I'm sure we've talked about it, and I can just say this with me, it never translated to understanding who I had come to worship and why I needed to be there. The beautiful thing that the Lord had commanded me to come and do became something else. How do you feel when you hear the words, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance? Which are you? Depending on how you answer that will determine whether you appreciate or hate Jesus' gospel answer. After this challenge, Jesus responds in verse 19. And Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. What an answer. What an overwhelming answer. He had just eaten with the tax collectors and the sinners. And when they say, Why don't you fast? He says, at a banquet, when the bridegroom enters, why would you? How inappropriate for them to mourn when I'm here. Fasting was intended for times of reflection and sorrow. So would you do that at a wedding celebration? You would never do that at a wedding celebration. That makes no sense. That would be inappropriate for you to start weeping when the bridegroom comes in. Everyone's happy when a wedding. Joy is entered in the room. You know what Jesus just said? Your Messiah has come. Those who see it understand God is forgiving their sins. Their sorrow has been turned to joy in his presence. He has come to call them to repentance. But then Jesus added something that makes the entire practice of fasting understood, you see. He says something rather shocking. As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can't fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away and then they will fast in those days. What is he talking about? The word sudden. He's suddenly going to be snatched away, taken away. When? The cross. Then they'll fast. Do you see what he just did? He just fulfilled the Old Testament which commanded fasting on the Day of Atonement. He just said, it is fulfilled in me, in my work. When I'm snatched and I die, that's when you're fasting because that's the appropriate time because your sins caused that. Your sins caused my death, which I'm willing to lay down my life for you. When they fasted, they were mourning as atonement was being made. Jesus just said they would mourn when he went to the cross. Their sins caused it. And then he says immediately after, but your sorrow will turn to joy again. And what he meant for that was, and we know this, I'm not leaving you alone. There's a reason I have to go away. I'm sending you the Spirit, he would say, for your help so that your joy would be complete even now. So you have pain now, he said in John 16, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. No one. Your joy is complete. So you say, well, should I fast? Jesus has fulfilled it. I know this. If you're going to go fast because you have sin in your life, no one should ever know. No one should ever know. But it's not because something is left undone or you're getting closer to God through it. Jesus just said his death is the fulfillment. When he rose victorious over the grave, he gained the victory over our sins so that your joy today is complete. The scene of Mark 2 of Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners is much greater than you realize. It anticipated the day of fulfillment when he would rise from the dead, forgiving all sin, saying it's finished, anticipating his own God-forsakenness because of sin and the feast he had just had with these sinners was anticipating the day when he would eat and drink anew in his Father's kingdom with us, forgiven, washed, cleansed, made new. But here, that you have already tasted and entered into because of the resurrection even now. What do you think the supper is? What do you think the supper is? You're eating and drinking as sinners at his table. And he's saying to you every time you do, Son, forgiven are your sin. Jesus just said, I'm being taken away. The fast will come, but joy will be returned. We'll dine together. The day of new has come. The celebration is only possible because he died. And that's what the feast was designed to bring, a recognition of the great costs that the Father gave his only begotten Son. I want to close with this today. Let's come back to, in closing, what Jesus was dealing with. At the table are tax collectors and sinners, are fasting without any real convicted hearts for their need. They're fasting. They were out fasting without any real convicted hearts for their need. They're clueless as to the meaning of what they're doing. They're tied up in the sentimentalism of it. So Jesus gives two metaphors to close this. No one sews, verse 21, an unshrunk cloth on an old garment. He does. The patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine and old white skins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins. The wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. He says the same thing twice. There are certain practices you know that are incompatible and will never work with the old. It's brand new. Here's his point. You guys have entered, created an entire system of superimposed traditions, prided yourself in your own righteousness, wrecking the intention of the law. You are trusting in the law. I didn't come to mend that. I didn't come to patch the old covenant. I didn't come here to show you how to keep better administration of death. I came to bring in the new covenant, the fulfillment of the covenant of grace to Abraham. The good news of offering myself is not compatible with trusting in any form in yourselves. It's not compatible, it won't work, it can't work. I'm offering you me, a righteousness not from the law, Romans 10, and you're still holding on to that. If you're tied to the old, you're not going to find what I'm offering attractive. You'll never find what I'm offering attractive if you're tied to that. Especially when you have from generation to generation to generation, pass down all your ceremonies and all your fastings and all your superimposed traditions, you will never find what I'm offering superior to this. And that's our struggle in the church today. This is what Jesus ran up against. Until I give you new hearts. When these broken sinners understand what I'm offering, you know, they'll know, the gospel I'm offering can't be poured, as one pastor said, into a brittle, cracked wineskin of apostate Judaism, nor is it compatible with any other man-made or demonic religion. And you see, what I'm bringing is the new covenant in my blood. Your lives are to be made new too. You need to be born again. You need to be born again. Not condemning the law. He's saying any confidence in the old misses the intention. You can never have joy or peace in that. There's only joy or peace in me, he says. Now I close today saying, And do you see how easy it is to find confidence in all the wrong things, especially at this time of year? Even when outwardly a celebration like Christmas may be good and right, it's not wrong. How that celebration could become wrong. How could fasting have been wrong? How could it have ever been made wrong? It was not being used for its intention. The birth of Christ does not leave us in a manger, beloved. Or as a doll, it's a declaration, the revelation of Scripture is a declaration that the Son of God has come here to assume our human nature. The child's purpose was to go to the cross, to die, bloody. It strips away sentimentalism, it requires faith, faith that sees the terrible consequences our sins brought on the Son of God, faith that desires to turn from our sins and to find life in his name to receive a joy that is complete in anticipation of even the taste now of the final feast we will sit brand new with him in the kingdom in the resurrection glory when all sorrow is banished forever let us remember in all of our celebrations what he's after you have been given the greatest gift from god's hand the gift of his only begotten son may all of our worship and practices as he has commanded be driven with an understanding that when he called us he called us as sinners to himself to repent and to find life in his name if we forget that we have no basis for joy in this life or in the next let's pray heavenly father you've confronted today what needs to be holy spirit you have penetrated deeply in your word speaking into our hearts the truth as it is in jesus and we ask lord that we would receive it for your intention is not to condemn us but to forgive us that's why we need this confrontation your intention is that we would all be sitting at the table in glory together your intention is to say son forgiven are your sins and how wonderful you are when we understand and see this powerful working in our lives of your sovereign grace to bring us to this place only give us the kind of responding hearts that are here demonstrated who so valued and understood who was given to them and what it means forgive us for presumption forgive us for taking your law and missing its intention and using it as a badge for self-righteousness. We're great sinners. And today we have a great Savior. And in that confidence and in that basis, we stand and always anticipate enjoying the table with our Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.