WEBVTT 00:00:03.806 --> 00:00:19.727 I want to begin with a quote from a gentleman by the name of RC Sproul on repentance, and it's a really powerful quote and it says when we realize that we have offended God, we must feel this rupture of our soul. 00:00:19.727 --> 00:00:31.577 When we realize we have offended God, which really is sin, we must feel this rupture of our soul. 00:00:31.577 --> 00:00:46.100 Just take a moment to think about that. 00:00:46.100 --> 00:00:53.859 Have you ever experienced a rupture of your soul? 00:00:53.859 --> 00:00:57.482 Our response to our sin is really one of the hallmarks of a true Christian. 00:00:57.482 --> 00:00:58.042 It really is. 00:00:58.042 --> 00:01:05.515 And today we are going to talk about repentance because that's what our text is talking about, and we're going to come back to this quote towards the end. 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:13.159 We're in a sermon series on the book of Nehemiah which we call the Passion Project, and we are on week nine, week nine. 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:17.932 So therefore it's sermon nine and it's on chapter nine. 00:01:17.932 --> 00:01:29.846 And last week Kelly really set this up beautifully when he preached on chapter eight and how the word of God is the real core of any revival and any repentance. 00:01:29.846 --> 00:01:32.802 It was a great sermon, kelly, it was wonderful. 00:01:32.802 --> 00:01:42.206 I want to remind us of the points he made because it was really vital to understand that he said the Word of God awakens our faith. 00:01:42.206 --> 00:01:45.608 The elevation of God's Word corrects our vision. 00:01:45.608 --> 00:01:47.417 The elevation of God's word corrects our vision. 00:01:47.417 --> 00:01:55.189 The explanation of God's word brings encounter and the continuation of God's word transforms our behavior. 00:01:55.189 --> 00:02:05.144 And this is so beautiful because this is leading directly into what we're going to talk about today, which is really the response of what they read the word of God. 00:02:05.144 --> 00:02:12.945 So we're going to continue this story in chapter nine and we're going to see the people step into this process of repentance and owning their sin. 00:02:12.945 --> 00:02:22.782 And really, chapter nine is interesting because chapter nine follows and it's actually chapter nine and 10, but I've only got nine it follows what's called a covenantal form. 00:02:23.843 --> 00:02:36.192 Now, the covenantal form was a very common process in the Near East at the time this was written and these covenants usually fell into three primary categories. 00:02:36.192 --> 00:02:38.268 There were three primary phases. 00:02:38.268 --> 00:02:46.652 The first was a preamble and then there was what's called a historical prologue and then there was this acceptance of the covenant prologue and then there was this acceptance of the covenant. 00:02:46.652 --> 00:02:49.056 And we're going to see that really clearly in this chapter. 00:02:49.056 --> 00:02:56.686 And, of course, because the focus of chapter nine is repentance, this is a covenant of repentance that we're going to read about today. 00:02:56.686 --> 00:02:58.693 Now, each of these sections. 00:02:58.693 --> 00:03:11.334 As I read this and I studied and I prayed, three themes came out with each one of these processes the first one, the preamble I've called it perspective Perspective. 00:03:11.334 --> 00:03:15.444 The second, which is the historical prologue, I called that remembrance. 00:03:15.444 --> 00:03:18.792 And the last one, the acceptance of the covenant. 00:03:18.792 --> 00:03:19.980 I call that response. 00:03:19.980 --> 00:03:32.873 And so today, as we look at these three sections of this covenant of repentance, we're going to see parallels, very clear parallels of how we, as Christians, should respond when we are walking through repentance. 00:03:33.775 --> 00:03:34.275 Are you with me? 00:03:34.275 --> 00:03:36.200 Let's pray, father. 00:03:36.200 --> 00:03:49.191 We are so grateful for your word, father, we are so grateful that we can sit here in this beautiful building and we can worship you, and we're so grateful that we can open up your word and we can study it. 00:03:49.191 --> 00:03:54.370 Father, we thank you for the book of Nehemiah, we thank you how you preserved it through all these years. 00:03:54.370 --> 00:04:12.730 And, father, my prayer is that today, as these words become unpacked, that they become alive, that each one of us are convicted, that hearts would be convicted, that our hearts would be set right on the right path of repentance, not a worldly repentance, but a godly repentance. 00:04:12.730 --> 00:04:13.985 Lord, help us to hear. 00:04:13.985 --> 00:04:16.023 Rend our hearts. 00:04:16.023 --> 00:04:18.927 Lord, in Jesus' name, that's my prayer, amen. 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:24.872 Well, normally what we do at this time is the pastor will read the entire chapter. 00:04:24.872 --> 00:04:28.428 This is 37 verses, and I thought you know what I'm going to do. 00:04:28.428 --> 00:04:29.865 Instead, I'm going to preach through it. 00:04:29.865 --> 00:04:35.331 I'm going to read it as I preach through it, because it really kind of lays out in a very wonderful story format. 00:04:35.331 --> 00:04:39.651 So let's get the setting and get ready to kind of set up. 00:04:39.651 --> 00:04:44.463 So in Nehemiah, verses 1 through 2, we're going to start here, just to kind of set the stage here. 00:04:44.463 --> 00:05:00.593 Now, in the 24th day of this month, the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and sackcloth and with earth on their heads, and the Israelites separated themselves from the foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 00:05:00.593 --> 00:05:05.821 So this is the setting we have now their fathers. 00:05:05.821 --> 00:05:06.543 So this is the setting we have Now. 00:05:06.564 --> 00:05:12.043 Just so you know, in chapter eight, as Kelly was unpacking that and talking about it, that was the first day of the seventh month and he talked about the feast of booths. 00:05:12.043 --> 00:05:16.581 I grew up keeping the feast of tabernacles, which is the same thing, booth tabernacle. 00:05:16.581 --> 00:05:21.689 You know, I always thought you don't go through a tall tabernacle on the expressway right. 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:24.613 It would be a real change the whole meaning of that, wouldn't it? 00:05:24.613 --> 00:05:26.442 So a toll booth. 00:05:27.285 --> 00:05:33.283 But at the beginning of that chapter was interesting because Nehemiah told them what he said do not mourn. 00:05:33.283 --> 00:05:41.084 He said do not mourn and weep, because they were already starting to feel repentance, but he said not yet. 00:05:41.084 --> 00:05:43.668 This is a time, it's a time to celebrate. 00:05:43.668 --> 00:05:44.990 There's time for that. 00:05:44.990 --> 00:05:45.692 And guess what? 00:05:45.692 --> 00:05:47.475 Here came chapter nine. 00:05:47.475 --> 00:06:07.822 Now, it's time Now, and it's interesting that, however, as they're entering this covenant process, they were convicted by the law, but they already had this welling up inside of them, which was the right response up inside of them, which was the right response. 00:06:07.822 --> 00:06:09.785 And, by the way, you wonder sometimes why the putting dirt on their head, or ashes? 00:06:09.785 --> 00:06:13.091 It really is a sign of humbling. 00:06:13.091 --> 00:06:17.564 It's placing yourself in the right perspective, which we're going to talk about. 00:06:17.564 --> 00:06:28.906 When you humble yourself before the Lord with fasting and sackcloth and these ashes, really what you're doing is you are placing yourself low, and that's what repentance is. 00:06:28.906 --> 00:06:30.370 It's placing yourself low. 00:06:31.211 --> 00:06:32.012 Now, where was this? 00:06:32.012 --> 00:06:33.483 Well, it's obviously Jerusalem. 00:06:33.483 --> 00:06:37.273 It does not specifically say in verse nine what part of Jerusalem. 00:06:37.273 --> 00:06:40.007 It says something about the stairs of the Levites. 00:06:40.007 --> 00:06:48.303 So it could possibly be at the temple, but it may be at the same place, which was the water gate, and no, president Nixon was not there. 00:06:48.303 --> 00:07:00.620 If the younger people go and say what Well, you didn't live through that, you can be thankful, but we can probably assume that was roughly the same place. 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:01.584 And who was there? 00:07:01.584 --> 00:07:02.526 This is interesting. 00:07:02.526 --> 00:07:04.872 It said the entire assembly of Israel. 00:07:04.872 --> 00:07:07.745 Now, remember who's telling the story, nehemiah. 00:07:07.745 --> 00:07:16.012 So he was there, obviously, but you know, neither Nehemiah or Ezra are mentioned inside this scripture, this whole chapter. 00:07:17.261 --> 00:07:24.262 What we're going to read is spoken by the Levites, and it said they separated themselves from the foreigners among them. 00:07:24.262 --> 00:07:30.490 Now, as I read that, I think at first it hit me and I realized almost immediately why they did that. 00:07:30.490 --> 00:07:35.961 You know, when we have communion, when we take the Lord's Supper, what's one of the things we always say? 00:07:35.961 --> 00:07:39.711 If you're not a believer, please do not feel pressured to do this. 00:07:39.711 --> 00:07:40.800 Why? 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:51.528 Because you're reaffirming with the Lord, you're remembering the sacrifice of Christ, and it's between you and God, it's between believers and God. 00:07:51.528 --> 00:07:55.545 And so the foreigners that were there, they didn't believe in this God, right? 00:07:55.545 --> 00:08:02.048 So this was between the nation of Israel, and there's also an element of a corporate repentance that's going on here. 00:08:02.048 --> 00:08:09.892 And, by the way, just because it's a corporate repentance doesn't mean there's not an application for us individually, right? 00:08:09.892 --> 00:08:10.920 So let's keep that in mind. 00:08:11.302 --> 00:08:16.706 So, with that as a background, let's jump into the first one, which is the preamble, which I've called the perspective. 00:08:16.706 --> 00:08:21.644 Okay, and we're going to start by beginning in verse 3 and going through verse 6. 00:08:21.644 --> 00:08:30.091 So Nehemiah 9, verse three, and they stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day. 00:08:30.091 --> 00:08:34.610 For another quarter of it, they made confession and worship the Lord, their God. 00:08:34.610 --> 00:08:45.948 On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua Bani Kadmiel Shebaniah, bunai Sherabiah Benaiah Cheraniah, and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. 00:08:46.529 --> 00:08:54.817 Then the Levites now listen to these guys Jeshua Kadmiel Benaiah, hashabaniah, sherebiah, hodiah Shebaniah and Pethahiah. 00:08:54.817 --> 00:08:57.455 I want applause, please. 00:08:57.455 --> 00:09:01.542 Thank you. 00:09:01.542 --> 00:09:06.364 Brian Durfee said you know, we're just all thankful we don't have to get up there and say those words, and that's exactly right. 00:09:06.364 --> 00:09:12.668 Anyways, they said stand up and bless the Lord, your God, from everlasting to everlasting. 00:09:12.668 --> 00:09:17.390 Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. 00:09:17.390 --> 00:09:36.974 Verse 6, you are the Lord, you alone, and you made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all of their hosts, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all and the host of heaven worships you. 00:09:36.974 --> 00:09:38.438 This is the preamble. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:47.822 Now it's interesting in this preamble, the Levites are going through three specific things to give them perspective. 00:09:47.822 --> 00:09:48.582 Perspective, and what are they? 00:09:48.582 --> 00:09:50.225 Well, first it was the reading of the Word of God. 00:09:50.225 --> 00:09:59.352 Then they went into praising Him right Praising and worshiping Him and then they went into acknowledging the greatness and the power of God. 00:09:59.352 --> 00:10:03.297 And I just want to unpack those three things here because they're very important for us today. 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:06.240 Now the Word of God. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:16.662 I am not going to give Kelly's sermon again because it was so good, but if you missed it, I always say this if you missed the service, please go back and listen to the sermon online, because they all flow together. 00:10:16.662 --> 00:10:17.924 It's all in the same book. 00:10:17.924 --> 00:10:27.782 So Kelly addressed the role of the Word of God so well last week, but really, the thing is they started again and they read it again. 00:10:27.782 --> 00:10:30.486 For a quarter of the day they read it. 00:10:30.486 --> 00:10:47.669 They just finished reading it in verse 8, I mean literally maybe a couple weeks before this, but they read it again and that should tell you something the Word of God was so important Because, listen, if they don't know what the word of God is, what do they know to repent of? 00:10:49.591 --> 00:11:11.330 I remember in seminary I was doing a paper on Josiah, king Josiah, and it was interesting because they were rebuilding and they were fixing the temple up and they discovered the book of the law and one of them brought it to Josiah and they read it to him and he's like he had never heard this before. 00:11:11.330 --> 00:11:15.350 How can you repent if you don't know what God's law is? 00:11:15.350 --> 00:11:18.384 So they were reminding themselves again. 00:11:18.384 --> 00:11:20.929 That's what we need to look at this. 00:11:20.929 --> 00:11:21.410 What is it? 00:11:21.410 --> 00:11:22.634 It's a catalyst. 00:11:22.634 --> 00:11:24.960 The word of God is always a catalyst. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:27.349 Truth is always a catalyst for repentance. 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:30.346 Now, secondly, they praised God. 00:11:30.346 --> 00:11:35.398 In verse 5 it said Stand up and bless the Lord, your God, from everlasting to everlasting. 00:11:35.398 --> 00:11:39.311 Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessings and praise. 00:11:39.311 --> 00:11:44.341 This sounds like what one of us would say when we get up here to introduce worship. 00:11:44.341 --> 00:11:56.125 It was the most beautiful worshipful statement and you know anytime you read where it says you know blessings and praise from everlasting to everlasting. 00:11:56.125 --> 00:12:04.789 This is a huge, all-encompassing praise that they're doing, and what it did is it demonstrated their repentance through this worship. 00:12:04.789 --> 00:12:06.354 That just naturally came out. 00:12:06.354 --> 00:12:10.570 It naturally comes out when you are coming to repentance. 00:12:10.570 --> 00:12:11.072 It should. 00:12:12.861 --> 00:12:16.767 And think about when you worship somebody, when you worship God, what are you doing? 00:12:16.767 --> 00:12:22.171 You're placing yourself under him, underneath him. 00:12:22.171 --> 00:12:32.475 Some of us have fallen into the traps in the past and maybe you might be there where you worship something else and you just have to understand. 00:12:32.475 --> 00:12:33.921 You might say I don't worship anything else. 00:12:33.921 --> 00:12:37.264 Well, how important is your 401k, especially now? 00:12:37.264 --> 00:12:44.533 How important is your job or your relationships? 00:12:44.533 --> 00:12:47.576 I've seen people literally worship their spouse. 00:12:47.576 --> 00:12:49.585 I've seen that. 00:12:49.585 --> 00:12:56.440 So you place yourself underneath them and so by doing this worship, that's what they're doing. 00:12:56.440 --> 00:13:02.227 They're placing themselves in a subservient position to God and they're doing it before God. 00:13:02.227 --> 00:13:07.542 They're announcing this to God through this worship, reading the law. 00:13:07.542 --> 00:13:12.705 God brought on the spirit of repentance and that automatically men led to worship and placing them below. 00:13:12.745 --> 00:13:19.597 Remember, this whole thing's about perspective, right, and I love Judy's word today, by the way, that was spot on the mess, everything. 00:13:19.597 --> 00:13:21.323 I'm sitting here listening to the worship. 00:13:21.323 --> 00:13:22.788 I'm just going God. 00:13:22.788 --> 00:13:26.760 Once again, you did your tapestry, you lined everything up. 00:13:26.760 --> 00:13:34.903 And third, the third thing they did is they acknowledged the greatness of God, verse 8, you are the Lord, you alone. 00:13:34.903 --> 00:13:47.450 You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their hosts, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve all of them. 00:13:47.450 --> 00:13:47.710 Wow, wow. 00:13:54.561 --> 00:14:04.384 They worshiped God and then they acknowledged his complete sovereign control over everything, over everything. 00:14:04.384 --> 00:14:09.081 You see what they're doing. 00:14:09.081 --> 00:14:09.643 They're gaining perspective. 00:14:09.643 --> 00:14:11.989 Remember, the Levites are speaking this to the people. 00:14:11.989 --> 00:14:19.283 The people are listening and as they listen to this, you're going to see that their hearts are becoming. 00:14:19.283 --> 00:14:20.565 They're putting themselves, they're realizing that. 00:14:20.565 --> 00:14:20.965 Wait a second. 00:14:20.965 --> 00:14:24.831 We are down here and God is way up here. 00:14:24.831 --> 00:14:32.910 He created everything the depth of the ocean, everything that's on the earth, the heaven and the heavens of the heaven. 00:14:32.910 --> 00:14:35.703 I mean, these are all encompassing statements, brethren. 00:14:35.703 --> 00:14:41.514 It's so, so powerful when we're getting even more. 00:14:41.514 --> 00:14:44.527 They're giving me more perspective because they're acknowledging who God is. 00:14:45.288 --> 00:14:46.773 I call these truth statements. 00:14:46.773 --> 00:14:51.110 In your personal prayer time, do you make truth statements? 00:14:51.110 --> 00:14:54.708 These are statements that are rock solid. 00:14:54.708 --> 00:15:05.870 They are so solid, they never change, and everything they said here hasn't changed in thousands of years and had existed for years, millions of years before. 00:15:05.870 --> 00:15:08.105 God is always on his throne. 00:15:08.105 --> 00:15:09.128 He's the one. 00:15:09.128 --> 00:15:11.232 And why was this so important? 00:15:11.232 --> 00:15:19.780 Well, because they had to get their relationship right with God before they could move into repentance. 00:15:19.780 --> 00:15:21.864 They had to get that right. 00:15:21.864 --> 00:15:22.945 It's the trifecta. 00:15:22.945 --> 00:15:29.794 You know the law of God, you worship God as the one who's over you and you acknowledge his greatness. 00:15:29.794 --> 00:15:30.755 It's beautiful. 00:15:32.561 --> 00:15:52.186 And, by the way, if you have idols in your life and think about the Israelites, by the way, they didn't always do this, always do this what's the first thing they did when they started to slip away? 00:15:52.186 --> 00:15:52.726 They looked for other gods. 00:15:52.726 --> 00:15:54.190 You know, why didn't they just go sin? 00:15:54.190 --> 00:15:55.392 Why didn't they just go? 00:15:55.392 --> 00:15:56.092 You know, do all. 00:15:56.092 --> 00:15:57.039 No, they've. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:59.265 The first thing they did is they looked for another God. 00:15:59.265 --> 00:16:00.769 What should that tell us? 00:16:00.769 --> 00:16:04.467 Because we are saying we're the same thing. 00:16:04.467 --> 00:16:10.788 You show me somebody that's walked away from God and I'll show you somebody that found another God. 00:16:10.788 --> 00:16:24.615 They found another God, they found something to worship and unfortunately, I think sometimes that thing is themselves. 00:16:24.615 --> 00:16:28.503 That thing is themselves. 00:16:28.602 --> 00:16:30.565 Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:16:30.565 --> 00:16:32.186 The great deception. 00:16:32.186 --> 00:16:32.807 What did Eve? 00:16:32.807 --> 00:16:34.528 What did she want to do? 00:16:34.528 --> 00:16:36.470 What was the tug for her? 00:16:36.470 --> 00:16:45.716 What was the tipping point for her when Satan said you will be like God, you don't have to place yourself under him, you don't have to worship him. 00:16:45.716 --> 00:16:46.977 You, you don't have to worship him. 00:16:46.977 --> 00:16:54.533 You're going to be on par with that. 00:16:54.533 --> 00:16:56.019 If you don't worship God, you're worshiping another God. 00:16:56.019 --> 00:17:05.248 Now, what's interesting, by the way, is I thought about King David when I thought about these three perspective gaining things, and immediately in my mind I started thinking about certain Psalms that I'd read in the past. 00:17:05.248 --> 00:17:09.613 And David was a man after God's own heart. 00:17:09.613 --> 00:17:12.056 Right, this man knew repentance. 00:17:12.056 --> 00:17:14.804 We know that because we've read Psalm 51. 00:17:14.804 --> 00:17:17.308 It's a heartbreaking Psalm to read, right? 00:17:17.308 --> 00:17:24.989 But there are three things I'm just going to bring up three things that he did that follow this same pattern. 00:17:24.989 --> 00:17:29.817 I'm just going to bring up three things that he did that follow this same pattern. 00:17:29.836 --> 00:17:31.619 He acknowledged God's word as preeminent in his life. 00:17:31.619 --> 00:17:34.564 Think of Psalms 119. 00:17:34.564 --> 00:17:35.767 I'm going to start in 97. 00:17:35.767 --> 00:17:36.327 Oh, how love I your law. 00:17:36.327 --> 00:17:38.772 It is my meditation all the day. 00:17:38.772 --> 00:17:45.143 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. 00:17:45.143 --> 00:17:48.589 I have more understanding than my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. 00:17:48.589 --> 00:17:50.554 Verse 100. 00:17:50.554 --> 00:17:54.750 I understand more than the agent, for I keep your precepts. 00:17:54.750 --> 00:17:59.511 I hold back my feet from every evil way in order to keep your word. 00:17:59.511 --> 00:18:08.250 I do not turn aside from your rules, of course rules, of course, that you've taught me how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey in my mouth. 00:18:08.250 --> 00:18:10.528 Through your precepts, I get understanding. 00:18:10.528 --> 00:18:14.325 Therefore, I hate every false way he did this. 00:18:14.325 --> 00:18:18.511 He acknowledged that the word of God was his foundation for everything. 00:18:19.560 --> 00:18:21.367 What else did he do when it came to worship? 00:18:21.367 --> 00:18:24.930 Well, I don't really need to really address that much, do I? 00:18:24.930 --> 00:18:32.182 Because most of the songs that we sing up here, that when they're coming from biblical text, most of them are Psalms of David. 00:18:32.182 --> 00:18:36.373 Right, I just picked out one, psalm 63, three through four. 00:18:36.373 --> 00:18:52.690 Because of your loving, because your loving, kindness is better than life, my lips will praise you, so I will bless you as long as I live, I will lift up my hands to your name, Worship, worship, praise and acknowledging his lowly position and God's lofty position. 00:18:53.819 --> 00:18:58.539 Immediately my mind went to this scripture in Psalms 8, verse 3. 00:18:58.539 --> 00:19:09.826 When I look at your hearts, heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him? 00:19:09.826 --> 00:19:13.554 What is man that you are mindful of him? 00:19:13.554 --> 00:19:25.170 There is nothing more perspective gaining than to being out and just looking at the creation and just realizing I'm just a speck of dust. 00:19:25.170 --> 00:19:26.712 I'm less than a speck of dust. 00:19:26.712 --> 00:19:30.786 Why are you mindful of me? 00:19:30.786 --> 00:19:38.170 Of course I know why, because scripture tells me why, but it puts me in that perspective which is so important, thank you. 00:19:38.170 --> 00:19:45.267 So the application for point one for us, this whole thing about getting perspective how does this apply to us? 00:19:45.267 --> 00:19:48.086 Well, I think a lot of you are probably nodding already. 00:19:48.086 --> 00:19:48.909 You know where I'm going. 00:19:49.661 --> 00:19:53.191 If we want to experience true repentance, it should naturally include these three things. 00:19:53.191 --> 00:20:00.461 It first and foremost and must always be informed by the word of God Truth. 00:20:00.461 --> 00:20:06.453 You and I need to know truth, we need to understand truth and we need to hold on to truth. 00:20:06.453 --> 00:20:12.232 And, by the way, if you haven't figured that out, that's getting more and more difficult every day. 00:20:12.232 --> 00:20:19.593 So many people are nullifying the word of God by twisting and explaining it away or making it fit into the culture. 00:20:19.593 --> 00:20:24.228 Oh, that can't be right, that's going to offend somebody. 00:20:24.228 --> 00:20:25.932 So therefore, I'm going to twist that. 00:20:25.932 --> 00:20:29.924 I've seen that before and it's sad. 00:20:29.924 --> 00:20:34.590 What's really sad is I felt tempted to do that before. 00:20:34.590 --> 00:20:38.349 If we're honest with ourselves, sometimes we're like this is really harsh. 00:20:38.349 --> 00:20:40.266 I don't know if I want to say that. 00:20:40.266 --> 00:20:47.647 But we can't walk away from truth and, more importantly, forget that yourself. 00:20:47.647 --> 00:20:53.009 When you find yourself straying, you have to stand back and look at what truth is. 00:20:53.009 --> 00:20:54.512 That's your measurement. 00:20:54.512 --> 00:20:58.673 That's your measurement and unfortunately, that's what happens. 00:20:59.436 --> 00:21:01.026 We did a class called the Deconstruction of Christianity. 00:21:01.026 --> 00:21:02.819 We went through that book of the same title, called the Deconstruction of Christianity. 00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:05.044 We went through that book of the same title. 00:21:05.044 --> 00:21:07.530 Neil and I did this last semester I think it was last semester. 00:21:07.530 --> 00:21:16.851 It was powerful, but it was sad because so much of the deconstruction is people saying well, I want to be a Christian, but I want to be this kind of Christian. 00:21:19.323 --> 00:21:28.384 I want this to fall in here, and some just literally reject it totally and walk away in here, and some just literally reject it totally and walk away. 00:21:28.384 --> 00:21:31.353 And unfortunately, we like to shape and mold our God into an idol that we can follow. 00:21:31.353 --> 00:21:36.769 You can't identify sin if you don't know what truth is. 00:21:36.769 --> 00:21:38.285 It's as simple as that. 00:21:38.285 --> 00:21:44.313 Secondly, when it comes to worship, we should desire to worship God readily and with a willing heart. 00:21:44.313 --> 00:21:50.770 Boy, worship is so powerful I can't imagine not being in this room when we worship. 00:21:50.770 --> 00:21:52.747 It's so powerful. 00:21:52.747 --> 00:22:02.713 It's so powerful If someone doesn't want to worship the Lord, their God, then I can almost guarantee you they probably don't have the right perspective. 00:22:03.902 --> 00:22:04.986 Their perspective's off. 00:22:04.986 --> 00:22:10.832 If you don't want to raise your hands to God, ask yourself why. 00:22:10.832 --> 00:22:14.625 Why wouldn't you do that? 00:22:14.625 --> 00:22:25.180 I challenge any of you to find somebody any one of our spiritual heroes in the Bible that were not worshipers. 00:22:25.180 --> 00:22:27.744 Just try to find one and you're probably. 00:22:27.744 --> 00:22:35.673 Well technically, it doesn't say he worshiped, no, no, they all worshiped the Lord, and a lot of times you know the way they worship the Lord is they fell flat in their face. 00:22:35.673 --> 00:22:38.281 That is an act of worship. 00:22:38.281 --> 00:22:39.904 You remember? 00:22:39.904 --> 00:22:45.894 I always think of that burning bush example Moses out there doing his thing with the sheep. 00:22:45.894 --> 00:22:56.496 It's like that bush has been burning a long time. 00:22:56.496 --> 00:22:57.339 What's that all about? 00:22:57.339 --> 00:23:00.442 Take your shoes off. 00:23:00.442 --> 00:23:01.545 You're on holy ground, shoes off, face down. 00:23:01.545 --> 00:23:10.311 He knew who God was and he knew what his response should be to God, and we need to also acknowledge the greatness of God. 00:23:11.621 --> 00:23:20.853 One of the things Judy had and she shared this a couple of times she's come up during worship and one of the things she did was share the names of God. 00:23:20.853 --> 00:23:24.044 Why was that important? 00:23:24.044 --> 00:23:25.429 Was that just like informational? 00:23:25.429 --> 00:23:26.803 Well, that's really neat. 00:23:26.803 --> 00:23:28.147 I didn't know that was the name of God. 00:23:28.147 --> 00:23:34.951 No, no, it's for you to understand and expand the God that you worship. 00:23:34.951 --> 00:23:43.926 The more you know about God, the more you understand the meaning and the power of it, the bigger your God gets and the smaller you get. 00:23:43.926 --> 00:23:46.113 Right, that's the way it's supposed to be. 00:23:46.113 --> 00:23:48.702 That's the way it's supposed to be. 00:23:48.702 --> 00:23:53.534 Brooke wrote an amazing worship song about the names of God. 00:23:54.039 --> 00:23:54.821 I love that song. 00:23:54.821 --> 00:23:56.223 That should be sung in every church. 00:23:56.223 --> 00:23:58.067 As far as I'm concerned, I love that song. 00:23:58.067 --> 00:23:59.088 That should be sung in every church. 00:23:59.088 --> 00:24:00.991 As far as I'm concerned, that's a powerful, powerful song. 00:24:00.991 --> 00:24:02.454 And what does it do? 00:24:02.454 --> 00:24:04.962 It gives you perspective. 00:24:04.962 --> 00:24:07.970 That's what this whole first section is about. 00:24:07.970 --> 00:24:13.584 They were getting perspective as they walked into repentance. 00:24:13.584 --> 00:24:24.000 Rehearsing the greatness of God reminds us of how big and wonderful God is, and we find it much easier to see our sin, much easier to see their sin. 00:24:24.020 --> 00:24:27.345 Okay, let's go to the second section, which is the historical prologue. 00:24:27.345 --> 00:24:30.647 Now you just have to understand. 00:24:30.647 --> 00:24:32.690 And I labeled this one remembrance. 00:24:32.690 --> 00:24:34.211 Okay, I called it remembrance. 00:24:34.211 --> 00:24:38.096 This is the preponderance of the rest of this chapter. 00:24:38.096 --> 00:24:41.384 I wanted to use the word preponderance. 00:24:41.384 --> 00:24:42.328 I thought it was a big word. 00:24:42.328 --> 00:24:45.560 I want some credit for that in the guys in the sound booth. 00:24:45.560 --> 00:24:49.731 Okay, preponderance Timothy doesn't know, he's looking up on his phone right now. 00:24:49.731 --> 00:24:57.010 So I'm going to break this up into two sections because there's a natural flow here. 00:24:57.010 --> 00:25:00.628 So the first one begins in verse seven. 00:25:00.628 --> 00:25:01.632 So let's just start reading. 00:25:03.201 --> 00:25:10.722 You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram, abram and brought him out of the Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. 00:25:10.722 --> 00:25:25.775 You found his heart faithful before you and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, the Girgashite and whoever other ites were there. 00:25:25.775 --> 00:25:30.930 He got their land and you have kept your promise, for you are righteous. 00:25:30.930 --> 00:25:49.490 And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and you heard their cry at the Red Sea and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of the land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers and you made a name for yourself as to this day. 00:25:49.490 --> 00:25:58.090 And it's interesting when Joshua was leading the children of Israel to the promised land, remember some of the responses of the nations that they were conquering. 00:25:58.090 --> 00:26:01.386 They said we heard about what your God did at the Red Sea. 00:26:01.386 --> 00:26:05.344 God made a name for himself, trust me, he made a name Verse 11,. 00:26:06.606 --> 00:26:15.701 And you divided the sea before them so that they went in through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depth as a stone, into the mighty waters. 00:26:15.701 --> 00:26:17.243 You know stones are heavy. 00:26:17.243 --> 00:26:21.632 Have you ever taken a stone and just thrown it into a really raging river? 00:26:21.632 --> 00:26:23.214 It disappears. 00:26:23.214 --> 00:26:25.165 The river's like whatever. 00:26:25.165 --> 00:26:27.430 That's what he's saying. 00:26:27.430 --> 00:26:29.125 That's what he's saying. 00:26:29.125 --> 00:26:37.271 By a pillar of cloud, you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night, to light for them the way in which they should go. 00:26:37.271 --> 00:26:46.563 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them the right rules, the true laws, good statutes and commandments. 00:26:46.563 --> 00:27:05.026 You made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them the commandments and statutes and a law by Moses, your servant Verse 15, and you gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water out from their rock for their thirst, and you told them to go and possess the land that you had sworn to give them. 00:27:06.008 --> 00:27:06.848 We're going to stop there. 00:27:06.848 --> 00:27:08.971 What are they doing? 00:27:08.971 --> 00:27:11.174 What are they doing? 00:27:11.174 --> 00:27:16.125 We know they're remembering, but what are they remembering. 00:27:16.125 --> 00:27:33.271 They're remembering God's faithfulness, his providence, his direction, his faithfulness Because, remember, they referred to the covenant he made with Abraham. 00:27:33.271 --> 00:27:56.440 They're remembering this faithfulness and it's important that we understand that because and this is a very important part of any covenant, but for them especially, let's just look at some of the things they remembered, just to rehearse really quickly they went all the way back to the founding of their nation, abram right. 00:27:56.440 --> 00:27:59.188 They went all the way back to there and they talked about how God Abram right. 00:27:59.188 --> 00:28:06.954 They went all the way back to there and they talked about how God found Abram faithful, changed his name to Abraham, took him out where he let him settle. 00:28:06.954 --> 00:28:10.165 They rehearsed their time in Egypt, which was a huge part. 00:28:10.606 --> 00:28:16.071 Last night my wife and I had a chance to do a Seder with Rick and Karen Greenberg Such a powerful, powerful meetings. 00:28:16.071 --> 00:28:17.195 It was wonderful with Rick and Karen Greenberg. 00:28:17.195 --> 00:28:18.039 Such a powerful, powerful meanings. 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:19.761 It was wonderful. 00:28:19.761 --> 00:28:29.763 And when you go through that, so much of it is remembering is remembering what God has done in the life of the nation. 00:28:29.763 --> 00:28:39.335 He remembered how he brought the brought of Egypt, walked them through the Red Sea, did all of that stuff I mean everything led and provided for them in the wilderness. 00:28:39.335 --> 00:28:40.449 They were remembering God's faithfulness. 00:28:42.192 --> 00:28:43.252 Now, why did they do this? 00:28:43.252 --> 00:28:44.674 Why was it important? 00:28:44.674 --> 00:28:50.570 Well, I think I just thought through this and it just kind of made logical sense to me. 00:28:50.570 --> 00:29:04.428 That number one it gave them confidence that God is going to forgive them and we're about to read about their unfaithfulness here in a minute but it gave them confidence that God is with them. 00:29:04.428 --> 00:29:08.844 God has always been with them and God always will be with them. 00:29:08.844 --> 00:29:11.328 It was a reminder of that. 00:29:11.328 --> 00:29:14.521 Secondly, it helped them understand God's provision. 00:29:14.521 --> 00:29:18.409 In the history of their nation, god was always there and providing God's provision. 00:29:18.409 --> 00:29:19.891 In the history of their nation, god was always there and providing. 00:29:19.891 --> 00:29:21.253 And you know, I think, what it really did. 00:29:21.253 --> 00:29:29.036 It really helped them build a spirit of thankfulness. 00:29:29.036 --> 00:29:35.640 Aren't you thankful that your God forgives you? 00:29:38.284 --> 00:29:44.558 Now, however, their remembrance also involved remembering the sins of their fathers, and that's what we're going to now read. 00:29:44.558 --> 00:29:47.145 Now, I've been toying around with how I was going to read this. 00:29:47.145 --> 00:29:51.885 I figured I don't want to lose sight of this, but I've got to change my tone of voice just so you understand. 00:29:51.885 --> 00:29:53.211 I've got it highlighted in my thing. 00:29:53.211 --> 00:30:01.884 There's a pattern that's going to jump out to you, so just listen to this, starting in verse 16,. 00:30:03.007 --> 00:30:09.027 But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 00:30:09.027 --> 00:30:14.284 They refused to obey and they were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them. 00:30:14.284 --> 00:30:18.301 They stiffened their neck and they appointed a leader to return their slavery in Egypt. 00:30:18.301 --> 00:30:21.067 Yeah, it's just what sin. 00:30:21.067 --> 00:30:24.173 I was going to do a New York accent, but I can't do that. 00:30:24.173 --> 00:30:30.553 It's sinful and this is their response. 00:30:30.553 --> 00:30:35.763 This was the response of our fathers to all of God's faithfulness. 00:30:35.763 --> 00:30:37.968 But look what he says after that. 00:30:38.910 --> 00:30:57.231 But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them, even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said this is your God, who brought you out of Egypt and had committed great blasphemies. 00:30:57.231 --> 00:31:01.324 You and your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. 00:31:01.324 --> 00:31:05.352 Okay, sin, god's faithfulness. 00:31:05.352 --> 00:31:06.653 Right, let's keep reading. 00:31:06.653 --> 00:31:16.550 The pillar of cloud that led them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way by which they should go. 00:31:16.550 --> 00:31:24.574 You gave your good spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 00:31:24.574 --> 00:31:29.652 Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness and they lacked nothing, god's faithfulness right. 00:31:29.652 --> 00:31:32.729 Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. 00:31:32.729 --> 00:31:37.528 I never thought about feet swelling until I got a little older. 00:31:37.528 --> 00:31:40.922 I never thought about feet swelling until I got a little older. 00:31:40.922 --> 00:31:41.883 That's a big deal, by the way. 00:31:43.064 --> 00:31:46.987 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. 00:31:46.987 --> 00:31:52.671 So they took possession of the land of Shion, king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Basham. 00:31:52.671 --> 00:32:02.877 You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, by the way, that's happening here in our church, by the way and you brought them into the land which you had told their fathers to enter and possess. 00:32:02.877 --> 00:32:10.288 So the descendants went in and they possessed the land and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land. 00:32:10.288 --> 00:32:16.605 By the way, we know Joshua went in and fought those battles, but they identified correctly who was winning that battle. 00:32:16.605 --> 00:32:18.348 Right, they said you. 00:32:18.348 --> 00:32:36.849 They didn't say you allowed us to win, they just said you did it right the Canaanites and gave them into their hand, with the kings and the peoples of the land that they might do with them as they would Verse 25, and they captured fortified cities and a rich land and took possession of houses full of all good things. 00:32:36.990 --> 00:32:45.468 Cisterns already hewn vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance, so they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness. 00:32:45.468 --> 00:32:53.430 Oh, my goodness, what a wonderful picture of God's faithfulness and his provision and all that stuff. 00:32:53.430 --> 00:32:56.767 Oops, here comes verse 26. 00:32:56.767 --> 00:33:10.027 Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them, in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. 00:33:10.027 --> 00:33:12.766 That's the response. 00:33:12.766 --> 00:33:17.750 One of the things you'll notice is there are no excuses being given. 00:33:17.750 --> 00:33:21.167 You see that, no excuses. 00:33:23.881 --> 00:33:28.913 So verse 27, god goes enemies, your turn. 00:33:28.913 --> 00:33:33.770 Therefore, you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. 00:33:33.770 --> 00:33:48.510 Sometimes God punished himself, sometimes he used their enemies to punish, which I think was to help them realize that, listen, the only reason you're here is because I brought you here and I provided it. 00:33:48.510 --> 00:33:52.912 If I take my hand off, you're done, you're done. 00:33:52.912 --> 00:33:55.425 But then look what he says. 00:33:57.461 --> 00:34:07.352 And in time, in the time of their suffering, they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven and, according to your great mercies, you gave them saviors who saved them from the land of their enemies. 00:34:07.352 --> 00:34:13.112 Here's God's faithfulness again, uh-oh, verse 28. 00:34:13.112 --> 00:34:20.467 But after they had rest, they did evil again before you and God went and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so they had domin. 00:34:20.467 --> 00:34:23.702 They did evil again before you and God went and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so they had dominion over them. 00:34:23.702 --> 00:34:27.251 Punishment, oh. 00:34:27.251 --> 00:34:28.572 In the same verse, though. 00:34:28.572 --> 00:34:40.253 Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them, according to your mercies, and you warned them in order that they warned them, in order to turn them back to your law. 00:34:40.253 --> 00:34:43.407 Merciful God faithfulness. 00:34:43.407 --> 00:34:45.664 Yet here we go again. 00:34:45.664 --> 00:34:49.911 Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. 00:34:49.911 --> 00:34:58.391 They sinned against your rules, which, if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. 00:34:58.391 --> 00:35:04.461 Many years you bore with them and warned them with your spirit, through your prophets, yet they would not give ear. 00:35:04.461 --> 00:35:10.231 Therefore, you gave them into the hand of the people of the lands. 00:35:10.231 --> 00:35:12.914