The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance - Judges 2

In Judges 2, we step into one of the darkest seasons in Israel’s history—a cycle of rebellion, consequences, and rescue that feels all too familiar. This episode unpacks the seriousness of sin, the danger of partial obedience, and the sobering reality of spiritual drift.

But even in judgment, God’s mercy shines through. He is not only just—He is also the One who saves. Through the rise of judges, we see a powerful picture pointing forward to Jesus, our ultimate Deliverer.

This message challenges us to examine our hearts: Are we truly repentant, or just sorry for the consequences? And are we living in a way that reflects God’s worth in our everyday lives?

Transcript

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Aren't you thankful for these ladies? I tell you what, they do such a great job. Appreciate them very much. Appreciate Miss Kathy and her willingness to lead us through her gift of music. Thankful for Miss Kay and her willingness to get up here and sing, and even thankful for Michaela. You know, uh you gotta watch out for Michaela because she just kind of wanders around here and she looks all cute and innocent, but she's not always such. I mean, there is there is another layer underneath there that if you find uh it's quite enjoyable. I will I will say that. But she's she's got a little bit of sass in there, and that's kind of what I like about her. But anyway, we're so thankful for all three of them. Great songs we sang, right? Be Thou My Vision. That's probably one of my favorite hymns. Uh, just what a great message, what a great just uh speaks to the heart, and then singing about the worthiness of God for our worship. That is true. And, you know, I think that is the posture, the attitude that we need to walk in every day, just being reminded that whatever's going on in our life, God is worthy. And this life that God has given us is to be lived as a life of worship, proving his worth in the world. And when we get to do that, gosh, what a great joy that that is. Well, Judges chapter two, we're gonna pick up, uh, I'm gonna read verses 14, starting verse 14. I think we covered a little bit of that last week, and then we're gonna get to the end of the chapter. But just a quick refresher of what we talked about in Judges last week was essentially Judges is one of the darkest times probably in the life of the nation of Israel. It's a time of just rampant rebellion, it's a time of just uh as it gets summed up toward the end of the book, that every man was doing what was right in his own eyes. And there's a terrible, terrible outcome to that. We live in a world today where men and women are doing what's right in their own eyes. And as we see the fallout of that, we see the hardship, the brokenness, and what's sad about it is we're we don't learn. And regardless of how much of a mess that we create for ourselves and we create for others, we're just content to run right back into the same mess. It's you know always interesting how the Bible just works together in all parts, but this coming Sunday morning, as we look at uh the book of Ephesians and see that he's gonna tell us not to live as the unwise or the fool, but rather to live as the wise. And if you begin to piece together what scripture talks about, about the fool versus the wise, it's the fool who thinks he knows best. It's the fool who does what seems right to himself, yet unfortunately it ends in death and destruction. And what's going on in the time of judges is that they failed to be obedient. They have not heeded the word of God, they've not done what he's told them to do. Rather to go in in his strength and in his might and to run out and destroy the inhabitants of this land that he has given them. Instead, they have done partially uh what he's told them to do, which is always disobedience, right? I mean, as much as we like to act like partial obedience is partial obedience, the reality is partial obedience is disobedience. And so they failed to be obedient to the Lord. And the outcome of that is these people have continued in the land, and rather than uh them following after God, these other people have turned their hearts away and they've worshiped the other gods and the other uh uh other uh you know, Baals and such in this land. And so essentially what we're seeing is that God is looking at Israel and saying, Well, now you're going to reap what you've sowed. You're going to experience the consequences of your actions, but also you're going to experience my judgment because I told you, if you didn't heed my words and obey me, that there would be judgment that would come from it. Now, what we looked at last week specifically was that there was a generation that continued to follow after the Lord, yet the generation that came after them did not know about what God had done. For whatever reason, they had not seen the hand of God, and as such, they turned from Him and didn't follow Him in obedience. And what we're going to see now is the outcome of that. What I want us to see, though, is several things. One, I want us to see the wretched reality of sin. And by that, you know, you think about songs that we sing, you know, realizing what a wretch that we are. I once was lost, but now I'm found, right? But this idea of lostness and understanding the depth of what sin is and what it's caused, because I'm convinced that we, including myself, struggle to understand just how evil and wicked our sin is. Matter of fact, the proof of it is we get offended when someone tells us that we're wicked and evil for what we've done. You know, last week we looked at the fact that Paul in there says, you were darkness at one time. Not you did do dark things, but instead who you were before the light of Christ that shined in your life, you were darkness. And that's not appealing to hear, and we don't want to believe it. We want to believe that there's a little bit of good in us. We want to believe that when given the right parameters and right situation, we're gonna do the right thing. But let me just remind you where we came from. We came from being sinless in the middle of a perfect garden and atmosphere, and we chose in our original man and woman to rebel against God. And so we are the epitome of that which has decided to go his own way, and as such, sin has affected us over and over, generation after generation, to the point that not only do we do what's wrong, we celebrate what's wrong, and at the same time, we act as if we're not wrong. Now think about that, right? I mean, if there's an indictment against us, it's this we do what's wrong, we celebrate it, we boast in it, we're happy about it, and then have the nerve to act like the very thing that we do is wrong is not wrong whatsoever. Now you can see why, according to verse 14, it says this the Lord's anger burned against Israel. And we talked about this last week, but I want to re-emphasize the point that anybody who has an issue with an angry God in the Bible needs to take a stop or a hard look and understand, well, why is he angry? And if indeed God is all that's good and righteous and true, I would be frustrated with the God who's not angry at the things that go on in the world. If God were to look and say, I created you to know me, to worship me, to fellowship with me, to enjoy me, and instead you've taken another being that you've carved and made, and you worship it instead, and instead of you following after me, you even take your children who are made in my image and likeness, and you sacrifice him to this God, why would he not be angry about that? If indeed sin is the cause of all the hardship and all the ruin and all the pain that exists in the life of humanity, by which whom God loves and created to know him and he wants good for us, why would he not be angry at the thing that's destroying our lives? And so rightfully so, God is angry. And so what he does is he hands them over to marauders who raided them. He sold them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. So what is God doing? He's bringing judgment through the hands of these wicked people. Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them, so they suffered greatly. So what we're seeing here is God is acting rightfully so, as a judge against sin. And the Bible is very clear that there is a day and time where which mankind will answer to him, mankind will give account for their sin, and God very much will stand in judgment once and for all against sin. And the reason he will do that is because he's good. Because he will look upon all the atrocity and wrong that's gone on in the world, and his righteous hand of goodness will finally once and for all say, It is time for sin and sinners to be punished. And church, let us remember this. That is a good thing. Why? Because it is evidence and testimony to the fact that God is who he says he is. He is good, he is righteous, and he is true. As we look at the book of Romans, specifically in chapter three, one of my most favorite chapters in the Bible, that Paul talks about that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and he's reminded us that there's no righteous, no not one. Yet he transitions in that passage and begins to speak about this justification that's found in Jesus, this redemption that's found in Jesus, this propitiation or atonement that's found in Jesus. And then as you get to verse 27, I believe it is, he says this that God has proven that he is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And that's an amazing verse. Because what it's showing is that God has not just passed over sin and treated it as if it doesn't matter. He has judged it, he has dealt with it. That's why Jesus went to the cross and took our place there. Sin was paid for, and God's judgment was revealed for our sin, but done so in Jesus. So God is proven just, but then think about the second part, but also the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So he's not only the one who's going to judge sin, he's also the one that's going to bring about forgiveness and justify the sinner. Now we get a picture of this in this passage, and here's how. So not only is God judging Israel, look at what happens in verse 16. But the Lord raised up judges who saved them from the power of the marauders. So think about that. So God is judging Israel, yet at the same time, he's going to do what ultimately he's going to do once and for all in Jesus. He's going to judge sin, but he also is going to provide those who are going to come and save them. Now, this is a picture of what's going to happen with Jesus, right? I mean, everything in the Old Testament's pointing us to the New Testament, to the New Covenant. And so what God is looking and saying, I am going to judge sin, that's not going to change. Sin will be dealt with because I must deal with it. Yet at the same time, the very God who looks and says, I will judge, is the same God who also says, but I will save, I will redeem, I will provide someone to deliver you. So what God's going to do throughout the book of Judges is He's going to rise up these judges. He's going to bring up these people who are going to be the ones who's going to deliver them from them experience the consequences, the penalty of their sin, and he's going to use them to liberate them. Now, when I said I want us to see the ugliness of sin, I want us to look at what else is being said here. So verse 17. But they did not listen to their judges. So God says, All right, you're trapped in your sin. We're going to see in the passage, they cry out to God. God says, I'm going to send someone to save you, yet at the same time, they don't listen. Now, how do we parallel that? Jesus came, right? Jesus proclaimed, Jesus taught. And his own did not receive him. They rejected him. They long for a Messiah. They desire to deliver. When God sends him, they look and say, Yeah, I don't think you're the one. Or in spite of everything that they did, or Jesus did, and all the miracles that he worked, they looked and said, Yeah, we're not sure that you're really the guy that we're looking for. Now look at how this speaks about their sin. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their ancestors who walked in obedience to the Lord's commands. They did not do as the ancestors did. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for Israel, the Lord was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The Lord was moved with pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them. Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their ancestors, following other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate ways. And so one of the ways that the Bible describes our sin is by spiritual adultery. And the Bible uses the picture of that of prostituting themselves, and what a grave picture that is. Now, if you want to get the full picture of this, we need to go to the book of Hosea. And in that book, through the prophet Hosea, God gives a very detailed picture and explanation of how we've rebelled against him and how it makes God feel. And so essentially he comes to the prophet by the name of Hosea and he says, Hosea, I want you to go take a woman of whoredom, a wife of whoredom, and that's strong language and picture to think. But he says, I essentially want you to go take a promiscuous woman, and I want you to make her your wife. And so he does that. And what we look at in the story is for a season of time, it looks like things are okay. They they they tend to, she seems to have turned from her ways. They even have a family together, but it's not long before she chooses to go back into that life. And so, forsaking her husband, she goes back into promiscuity, she begins to live a life of adultery and adulterousness, and finds herself, really, from what we would probably understand, being passed around until she finds herself, because of her livelihood, forced into slavery. And this is not a pretty slavery. Essentially, what we're looking at is I think modern-day language you would refer to as a sex slave, that through her bad choices and all of the things, and because in that day and time, the lack of rights and things that a woman had, her choices led her into a life of a place that she never really dreamed that she would ever go. Before long, she finds herself being sold as a sex slave, and you can only imagine what that feeling would be like. Stripped naked of your clothing, paraded out in front of a group of vile men who are bidding on you, offering what they think you're worth, only to take you home and to use you more and more. And I can only imagine what she feels like in that moment because essentially her choices have come to bring about the consequences. She is reaping what she's sowing. And what happens, interestingly enough, is God then looks at Hosea and says, I want you to go back and redeem her. I want you to go back and buy her back, and I want you to take her home and make her your wife. Now, if you think the first thing that God told Hosea to do is crazy, this one seems even crazier, right? I think if I'm Hosea, I would be like, hey, we've already done this song and dance. Remember, I went and took this promiscuous woman and I made her my wife, and yet, no matter how good I was to her, she proceeded to go out and live the same lifestyle. She forsook my goodness, she didn't care about my love, she left me all alone, and now she's finally gotten what she deserves. And you want me to go redeem her? Yet that's exactly what Hosea does. Now I think for a moment what Gomer must have felt like, because I think when she hears the bidding going on, all of a sudden she hears a familiar voice, and it's that of her husband. And I don't think she's excited, I think she's terrified, and here's why. Because once this man buys her as his slave, he now can do with her whatever he wants to do. He can bring her home and treat her as poorly as he wants to treat her because guess what? She's not a wife anymore, she's a slave. And I think the moment that she sees that he wins the bid with a price that was probably far more than what she was worth, she says, Oh no, my life truly now has come to an end. Yet his words are this to her You're gonna come home and you're gonna be my wife. Not you're gonna be my slave, but I'm gonna redeem you and I'm gonna make you my own. Now, what's this a picture of? It's a picture of the gospel, right? And I do believe this. There's nothing coincidental with God. And so when God gives us the gift of marriage, and there's a reason why he did it the way that he did. There's a reason why he said, I'm gonna take one man and one woman, and they're gonna be united together in marriage. And what God has joined together, Jesus later said, man should not separate. Matter of fact, Jesus expounded upon what was said earlier in the beginning. And therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother, hold fast to his wife, the two should become one flesh. And so from the very beginning of time, even before sin entered the world, God gave us a relationship that he's going to use to tell us about the relationship that he wants to have with us, but later in the New Testament is going to be the symbol of the relationship that Christ has with his church. And so God in this plan said, I'm going to give you all a sacred relationship. And it's going to be unlike any other relationship that mankind can have with another person. It's to be intimate, it's to be close, it's to be special. And we know this as you've ever been married, there's a level of sacredness in that marriage by which you expose yourself to one another on levels that you don't expose yourself to anyone else. Not just physically and sexually, that's part of it. That's part of the closeness of it. But but you get glimpses into one another's souls that nobody else gets to see. And there's a reason why we can hurt each other so bad in marriage. You want to know why? Because there's knowledge that we have about one another that no one else has. There's a reason why infidelity is so painful. It's not just the fact that someone would climb in bed with someone else. That's harmful, but it's the fact that that which was sacred and was only to be shared between us has now been given to someone else. And there's a reason why there's pain in that. And here's why I think that God designed it that way. That way we would see and understand exactly how he feels when we turn against him. The ultimate form of betrayal in our culture would be infidelity. And God says, that's exactly what you've done to me. But not only that, he uses the language even stronger. He says, You've prostituted yourself. You've sold yourself over and over and over again. This wasn't just a one-time mistake that you made where you stumbled into this, but instead, willfully and willingly, you have chosen to rebel against me over and over and over. And as we look and see, even in the midst of all of that, God continues, it says here, He was moved with pity, compassion toward them when they groaned. And I want you to think about the love that God must have for us, because I don't know about you, but there's going to reach a point, I think, in a relationship, by which someone betrays you enough that they exhaust your pity, your compassion. And I could be wrong, and it might not even be that you look and feel sorry for him and say, There's something wrong with you. But here God is still moved with compassion as he looks at his people, and even though they've rebelled against him repeatedly, continue to go against his goodness, his favor, his love, and chosen other things over him. But the story doesn't get better. Look at what it says in verse 19. So he would send these deliverers who would come, and whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their ancestors. So they're not repentant. And I think here's one of the lessons that we need to learn. And I think we talked about this a little bit last week, but there is a clear difference between being sorry for the pain that you're experiencing because of your actions and truly being repentant over your sin. We just finished another chapter in our staff yesterday about conversion and you know, reading this book about what true salvation looks like. And we said we've got to quit talking in terms, as far as in the study, just about people making decisions. Because a decision is like something that you did at one time. And the author of the book uses an example that when he was a kid, he decided that he wanted to, he liked baseball. And he said, like, you know, I realized I got to have a team if I'm gonna really enjoy baseball or not. And he said, So as a kid, I decided to be a Boston Red Sox fan. He said, so what he did is every day he would check the box scores, you know, he would watch the games. He said, and you know, he decided at that time that he was gonna be a fan of the Boston Red Sox. He said, Well, life happens, and here he is some 30 years later. He said, you know, am I still a fan of the Boston Red Sox? Well, yeah. But he said, you know what? I don't watch all their games anymore. I don't follow the box score. If they make it to the playoffs, I'll probably watch. And he said, a lot of people want to treat their spirituality like that. Well, I made a decision one time to be a Christian. And even though all these years later I really don't have a desire for the Lord, don't really want to be faithful to him, but you know, I'm still a Christian because I made a decision. And the point of it is simply this. Sometimes in salvation, we put way too much of an emphasis on a decision you made one time, and not on the reality that the Bible doesn't call you just to make a decision. It calls you to repent of your sin and to believe in Jesus and follow after him. And the proof that you're a follower is the fact that you continue to follow. You continue to repent. You continue to believe. And I think one of the important things for us to realize in this is it's possible for us to be sorrowful over the consequences of our sin yet not be repentant. You know, Adeline can be sorrowful when we take away her toys. Not because she did something wrong, but because she doesn't have her iPad anymore. Because she doesn't have this or that, or she can't go play with her friend. And we've all been there. And I think one of the things that we're seeing in the life of Israel during this dark, dark time is that they're not necessarily repentant because once God frees them of the consequences, look at what it says again. They acted even more corruptly than they did before. Now, unfortunately, we've probably seen this in one of our children. And I'm not going to make you tell a story or give a name, but probably chances are with one of your children, they went through a season of their life of rebellion. Matter of fact, I can take a look at all of my three adult children, and I could point you back to seasons in their life that manifested themselves in different ways, but with all three of them, there was a period in high school where they wanted to be rebellious. And what would happen was they would do something that they shouldn't. Their mom and I would sit them down and we would explain to them why it's not okay, that we love them, and because we love them, here is the discipline that you're going to receive. And interestingly enough, in these seasons of rebellion, it was possible for them to say they were sorry. It was possible for them to act like things were going to be okay, only for a few days later for them to go off and do something worse than the very thing that they said that they were sorry for. And part of us looks and says, well, that's human nature. And to some level that that's true, but I think what it's proof of is that just because we're sorry for consequences and want something to end doesn't mean we're sorry that we grieve God and want to turn and change the way that we live. Think about this picture. They did not turn from their evil practices, so these outward, overt signs of just blatant disobedience, and then they're obstinate ways. You ever met an obstinate person? They are not pleasant. I mean, there's just some people in life that are just difficult, they're just obstinate. You know, they just don't want to do, you know, matter of fact, there's a disorder, and they call it ODD, obstinate, defiant disorder. I call it B-R-A-T. I got a different clinical name for it. And most people don't like my clinical name for it, but like they they quickly want to label kids with, well, they got ODD. And I'm not saying that that there's not certain things, but I think it like almost all disorders and issues, it gets tossed around way too loosely because sometimes I look at a parent or somebody like, well, they've got ODD. I said, no, they got B R A T. And they needed a spanking on their B-U-T-T. I got all kinds of acronyms that I that I like to use that oftentimes get me in trouble. But nonetheless, like I think I think there's a cure for this. But but the reason why they are obstinate, the reason why they do these things is because they've learned I get my way when I do it. Praise God that He doesn't let Israel have their way. Praise God when we're obstinate and defiant. He doesn't just say, ah, fine, live that way, but instead he disciplines us, and that discipline is proof that we're God's children. Because while other nations at this time would get judgment, they didn't get judges. And God sent judges because he loved this people that he had chosen for himself. Verse 20. The Lord's anger burned against Israel, and he declared, Because this nation has violated my covenant that I made with their ancestors, and they disobeyed me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations of Joshua left when he died. I did this to test Israel and to see whether or not they would keep the Lord's way by walking in it as their ancestors had. The Lord left those nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua. So he tested them. Now what does this mean? Because we take a look later in the book of James, and it says, Now none of us should say that God tempts us, because God's not tempted by sin or evil, so therefore he tempts no one, but said, But he does test in that passage. Interestingly enough, that word in the New Testament that we use for temptation or test is the exact same word. And so depending on the circumstance or situation and how we respond determines whether it becomes temptation or whether it's a test. Now, why does God give tests? To prove our faithfulness, to give us opportunities for growth and maturity. And God said the reason why I didn't just take them all out on my own is because I was going to test you. I was going to see. This is an opportunity for faithfulness. It's an opportunity for you to prove obedience. It's an opportunity for you to grow because if you would heed my voice and listen to me, there's a blessing on the other side of the test that would have never been yours had you not experienced it. Now we know this in life, right? There are such things as good tests. They're proving things to us. And when you get to the other side of it, it can be a celebratory time because you've made it through the test, you've made it through the challenge. There's a strength that you now have that you didn't before. Well, what turns it into a temptation? Well, it's when we are given in to our own sinful desires and act in disobedience. And that's exactly what James is talking about. He says, Don't any of you blame God when you're tempted and fall into sin? Because God doesn't tempt anyone because he's not tempted. He tests you, but when you're tempted, it's because you give way to your own evil desires that are inside of you. And so the whole idea that the devil made me do it is just not a biblical idea whatsoever. Does Satan tempt? Well, on some level, yes, we see it in the life of Jesus. Now, you want to know why Satan had to go tempt Jesus outwardly as hardly as he did? Because inwardly he wasn't going to be victim like you and I are. Satan doesn't have to do a lot of tempting because we're already corrupt. He's barely got a dangle of carrot before we get moving, right? The real temptation comes from when we're given the opportunity to do wrong, the evil desire inside of us wants to step out and do it. And so the Lord tests them, and it's an opportunity for them to be faithful, obedient, and grow, yet, because of their wickedness, now it's a temptation that leads them into sin, which ultimately is going to result in judgment. That ends chapter two, and we're not gonna jump into chapter three. So you are gonna get the odd opportunity to be done quicker today than normal, because I don't want to jump into chapter three, because here's why. Next week we're gonna have something uh different and special for you. And I'm not gonna tell you what it is because I want you to come and experience it for your own. But next week, we're gonna do something a little bit different in here, then in two weeks we'll pick up in chapter three of the book of Judges. But as we wrap up what we looked at today, I think here's the high points and the important parts. First of all, our sin is serious. I think we I think we know that, yet I think we struggle to know that. And I'll tell you why. Sometimes I struggle to understand the seriousness of my sin. I know I shouldn't do it, I know it's not okay, but it's become so common in my life and in the world, I treat it as just something slight when it's not. In the last month, other than uh, and this isn't because I'm a super spiritual guy, so I want to be very clear about it before I say this. In the last month, I have only TV I've watched has been uh OSU softball, not OU softball, uh Thunder basketball, and occasional news, and then weather, because sometimes you gotta have the weather on. And I've taken a step back from watching shows or streaming on that, and I'm not saying I'm never gonna watch another show again or anything, so I don't want to like paint myself into a corner that you're like, wait a minute, you said you're gonna come, you're gonna come tempt me or test me when it's over. Hey, you know that show, so-and-so? Oh yeah, you said you weren't watching TV anymore. So I'm not gonna lie and tell you that I'm never gonna watch TV again. But here's what I began to realize in my own life. I was coming, becoming desensitized to sinfulness. It's just so, it's just around us everywhere. It's just in everything. And and there was a part of me that was all of a sudden becoming comfortable, not you know, saying, oh, this is a great thing, but just being comfortable to hear things that at one time I wouldn't have been okay to hear, or to see things that at one time I wouldn't have been okay to see. And and you want to know why you get lulled down that path? Because it's just everywhere. And so I just consciously kind of made an effort. I'm like, you know what? This is something that for a while at least needs to be cut out of my life. And here's been the interesting thing in the journey. It's refreshing once you get away from it. It's refreshing to not hear some of those things or to experience. I mean, like there really is like a weight that comes with them that you can't really explain because it just gets added on a little bit of a time. And my point in that is the reason that I decided, you know what, I need to take a step back is because I was becoming inebriated, I think, a little bit, desensitized to the reality of it. And I just thought, you know what? That's what that's the deceptive nature of sin. That's what it does. And so when we sit here and say sin's serious, uh well, of course it is. Uh but do we live like it's serious? And I think sometimes we need to stop and remind ourselves, like this that they're doing, it's serious in the eyes of God. Secondly, I think the set we take away from it is God's gonna judge. And rightfully so. God's gonna bring about judgment. It comes in the form of discipline to his children, but it comes in the form of judgment ultimately on sin in the future for those who aren't found in Jesus. God's just, he's a judge, but he's also a justifier. He's also a redeemer, a deliverer. And these judges are pictures of God's compassion, willing to send one to liberate them from the effect of their sin. And Jesus ultimately will be the ultimate judge in this sense. Both the ultimate judge of mankind, but also to be found the ultimate justifier of the one who has faith in him. And what a great promise that is for us. So that wraps up today. A little gift to you. I mean, I don't, we've never done this before, so I don't know what to do. And you're like, I know what to do. Shut up and let us out of here. So we're gonna pray and we're gonna be done. But next week we we do have something different that we're gonna do that I think you'll enjoy, and so we look forward to seeing you all back. In two weeks, we'll jump back into Judges chapter three. Let's pray. Father, we love you, we thank you, we praise you. God, because you're good, because you judge sin, but God also because you justify those who have faith in Jesus. Father, if you weren't willing to send deliverers, we would have no hope. But God, today, because you sent the ultimate deliverer, Jesus, we know that we no longer have to fear judgment because perfect love casts out fear. Father, would you grant us hearts of repentance when we sin? Father, would you not just allow us to be sorry for the consequences or sorry for the pain? But God, would you draw us to complete and total repentance that wants to turn from the things that we've done wrong in order to walk in fellowship with you by faith? Father, would you strengthen our faith today? Would you convict us of sin today? Father, would you show us the areas of our life that are obstinate, that are evil, that are, Father, just rebellion against you. And God, would we turn from that today? Pray that you would be with us tonight as we gather. We pray for the kids as they're gonna do their program, and Lord, just ask that you would help them to do well with all the hard work that they put in. We look forward to gathering on Sunday where we get to uh share, Lord, in this great uh word that you've given us and a great time of worship together. Just ask your blessing in all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.