1 00:00:00,100 --> 00:00:04,700 The whole image of the concept of the American dream and of 2 00:00:04,700 --> 00:00:09,400 retirement is the effort to transcend our dependence upon 3 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:14,400 God so that we can fully and finally rest in the achievements 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:17,600 that we've accomplished and not have to worry. 5 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:28,700 This is week 3, which means next Sunday is Emmaus is last church 6 00:00:28,700 --> 00:00:31,800 here with you. And we are out the door after 7 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:36,900 next Sunday, which is crazy. So I have like this Sunday and 8 00:00:36,900 --> 00:00:42,800 next Sunday to to be in front of you and ask you to pray for us 9 00:00:43,100 --> 00:00:45,800 because we need God's help and to ask for your support. 10 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,500 And so up here will be four different ways that you can 11 00:00:49,500 --> 00:00:51,900 participate in serving. There we go. 12 00:00:52,100 --> 00:00:56,100 And so, Supporting the work that God is doing through us up up in 13 00:00:56,100 --> 00:00:59,000 Ankeny, you can pray for us. We need, as I said, we need your 14 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,000 prayers if you would. I don't know if anybody keeps 15 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,400 the prayer journal, or a list of people they pray for, but I just 16 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,700 asked you to put our names on it because we definitely are 17 00:01:08,700 --> 00:01:11,900 incapable of doing what God has called us to do. 18 00:01:11,900 --> 00:01:16,000 Without his Spirit, empowering us and providing for us and 19 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,200 working through us. We also, we need financial 20 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,600 resources and I just ask you to pray. 21 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,400 Ask If the Lord would lay upon your heart to give to the 22 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,100 mission of that we're doing, we obviously have a lot of 23 00:01:29,100 --> 00:01:31,200 financial needs and planting a church. 24 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,600 And so if you are so led by the Lord, there is opportunity to do 25 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,300 that on the Frontier website and hopefully by the end of this 26 00:01:38,300 --> 00:01:41,400 week, it will be available on the Mas website to but right now 27 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,200 it's on the Frontier website and the giving section there there's 28 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,800 a byline for Mas church and then also maybe you want to come help 29 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,700 us or you want to come and join us either way if you want to 30 00:01:52,708 --> 00:01:57,600 come I'm serve us for a time. It's I've got Chad. 31 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:03,400 McFarland has volunteered his community group to come and help 32 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,600 us a couple times over the next few months, which is just 33 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,000 awesome. Thank you guys for being willing 34 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,300 to come and serve us if not anything else, just to be extra 35 00:02:13,300 --> 00:02:17,500 bodies to help us worship Jesus together, but if the Lord would 36 00:02:17,500 --> 00:02:22,000 put on your hearts to come and serve Us in any way, we could 37 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,400 definitely use it. Or if the Lord would call you to 38 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,700 come, like the stantons and join us on Mission. 39 00:02:27,700 --> 00:02:30,400 We certainly need all the help we can get. 40 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,500 So that is my pitch one more time. 41 00:02:33,500 --> 00:02:34,900 You have to sit through that next week. 42 00:02:34,900 --> 00:02:40,300 So that being said, we are in our third week in the book of 43 00:02:40,300 --> 00:02:44,900 Zephaniah. The book of Zephaniah, which is 44 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:50,300 three chapters. Long of very, very intense 45 00:02:50,300 --> 00:02:53,900 Prophecy from the mouth of God to the people of Israel and the 46 00:02:53,900 --> 00:03:01,300 nation's surrounding them. It's funny this morning is not 47 00:03:01,300 --> 00:03:05,200 funny. It's a this sermon has been 48 00:03:05,500 --> 00:03:07,800 prepared. Preaching is so weird. 49 00:03:07,900 --> 00:03:12,400 You know, you read a text. Like I like I read this months 50 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:17,000 ago and preparation put up, put together an outline and then I 51 00:03:17,008 --> 00:03:21,100 have to destroy the outline and readjust things and then I think 52 00:03:21,100 --> 00:03:23,700 I know what the sermon is going to be about just from reading a 53 00:03:23,708 --> 00:03:27,200 little bit of research and then you get into it. 54 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,800 And I remember just telling my wife last night, This sermon is 55 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:31,000 nothing. What I thought it was going to 56 00:03:31,008 --> 00:03:33,600 be God, always just surprises me. 57 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:38,500 And what he has done in in me, in preparing. 58 00:03:38,500 --> 00:03:43,400 This sermon was hard, it was hard. 59 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,500 And the reason it was hard as because this sermon brings up 60 00:03:46,500 --> 00:03:51,500 that what God is doing in this text brings up in me, some of 61 00:03:51,508 --> 00:03:54,400 the most difficult aspects of my Christian Life. 62 00:03:55,100 --> 00:03:59,400 There's nothing I struggle with in my Christian Life more than 63 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:05,600 the knowledge that God seems to be okay, bringing pain into the 64 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:11,400 life of the people he loves. And it's so hard for me to 65 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:16,700 process that not just, it's not just an intellectual puzzle to 66 00:04:16,700 --> 00:04:19,000 solve. Like how do we work that out and 67 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,800 understand God, and what he is doing. 68 00:04:23,500 --> 00:04:27,400 But at the Heart level, I just get angry about it. 69 00:04:27,408 --> 00:04:33,200 I don't like it. and having been through really difficult and 70 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:37,300 really challenging circumstances as many of you know, many of you 71 00:04:37,300 --> 00:04:41,100 many well over a decade ago now, went through a divorce and my 72 00:04:41,100 --> 00:04:44,800 whole life was just my legs workout up from under me, my 73 00:04:44,808 --> 00:04:51,000 whole life just Shattered felt unbelievable, loneliness and 74 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:56,700 pain that I is. And, and I've read the Bible 75 00:04:56,700 --> 00:04:59,800 enough and my theology tells me God's in control of everything. 76 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,700 And I'm like, what are you doing? 77 00:05:03,100 --> 00:05:05,100 This seems like a psychotic plan. 78 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,800 Why would God do this? It makes zero sense. 79 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:14,600 And I've just struggled to marry in my mind, God's justice and 80 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:19,200 judgment and discipline. And his mercy, and his love, and 81 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,800 the two seem like they just never go together. 82 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:28,000 Like, I can't in my mind, I struggle to see God as merciful 83 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:33,800 and loving, while also bringing pain, which is why I'm singing 84 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:35,300 that last song that we just sang. 85 00:05:35,300 --> 00:05:40,300 Joseph encourage us as we sang over and over again, burn, like 86 00:05:40,300 --> 00:05:43,900 a fire, you understand? That's not pleasant. 87 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,700 That's not something that happens when we stand in a 88 00:05:47,708 --> 00:05:50,700 church like this with nice light coming through stained glass, 89 00:05:50,700 --> 00:05:53,900 windows, all dressed up, nice and everything, feels good 90 00:05:53,900 --> 00:05:57,700 because the music's hitting the right notes and we like a fire 91 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:03,600 burns. And yet, we sing that with joy. 92 00:06:03,900 --> 00:06:06,400 How in the world does that happen? 93 00:06:07,700 --> 00:06:10,300 It just, it doesn't make sense. It's hard. 94 00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:14,000 It's not only hard to intellectually pull together 95 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,900 emotionally. It just seems it just seems 96 00:06:18,900 --> 00:06:21,500 crazy. And yet I believe it. 97 00:06:21,500 --> 00:06:24,500 That's exactly what we find happening in our text today. 98 00:06:24,700 --> 00:06:28,700 That's exactly what we find happening between in Zephaniah 99 00:06:28,700 --> 00:06:31,400 chapter 3 and Zephaniah chapter 1. 100 00:06:32,100 --> 00:06:36,500 We learn that God judges Judah the Israelite people for their 101 00:06:36,500 --> 00:06:39,500 corruption. For their sin and their idolatry 102 00:06:39,500 --> 00:06:45,800 and just immense language of judgment in pain and suffering 103 00:06:45,900 --> 00:06:48,400 and sorrow that God is going to bring upon these people. 104 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,900 And then in Chapter 2 last week, we learned that God, judges the 105 00:06:51,900 --> 00:06:56,600 Nations around them as they were the source of the idolatry in 106 00:06:56,608 --> 00:07:01,200 the source of the corruption and he's going to destroy them. 107 00:07:02,900 --> 00:07:06,300 And intersperse of these little tiny glimmers of hope that we've 108 00:07:06,500 --> 00:07:08,900 tried to cling onto long the way. 109 00:07:11,700 --> 00:07:18,000 We we struggle here because we look at all of that judgment and 110 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,900 we wonder where's love? Where's Mercy? 111 00:07:22,700 --> 00:07:30,800 Where's the grace of God? I think the reason the reason we 112 00:07:30,900 --> 00:07:35,500 struggle with this as because we tend to see God, we can see God, 113 00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:38,000 especially in our culture. The way we talk about God is 114 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:43,300 like, God has one side of him that wants Justice, and another 115 00:07:43,300 --> 00:07:46,800 side of him that wants love and joy. 116 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:51,300 And so, on one hand, we have the just judge and he's saying we 117 00:07:51,300 --> 00:07:55,900 can't be loving, we can't be merciful and then he looks at 118 00:07:55,900 --> 00:07:59,400 the Little Hippie and Todd and the Little Hippie and God says, 119 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,300 no we need to love everybody. We need to forgive everybody and 120 00:08:02,300 --> 00:08:05,200 it's like the two are at war in our minds, right? 121 00:08:05,900 --> 00:08:09,800 The two are like, like there's like there's some inner conflict 122 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:13,800 in God where the judges winning out on one hand here and then 123 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:16,700 maybe hopefully the hippie o went out on the other hand. 124 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,600 And we just that we tend to view God in this way. 125 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:24,400 And what I hope you can see this morning, but I hope we see in 126 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,100 this text. Is that not only is this not the 127 00:08:27,100 --> 00:08:31,300 right vision of God, he's not at war with himself. 128 00:08:31,300 --> 00:08:35,700 He's not an inner in any kind of inner conflict in God. 129 00:08:35,700 --> 00:08:40,900 There's this miraculous marriage between Justice and mercy. 130 00:08:41,700 --> 00:08:44,800 That this passage begins to put on display for us there's a 131 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:51,400 miraculous marriage of judgment and love in God and so it's my 132 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,100 hope this morning that you can see with me that in God's 133 00:08:54,100 --> 00:08:58,100 perfect Justice. There is also the establishment 134 00:08:58,100 --> 00:09:03,700 of perfect mercy and love. And we begin to see that spring 135 00:09:03,700 --> 00:09:07,700 forth through the text. God in essence is just not. 136 00:09:07,700 --> 00:09:11,800 He's not like us. He's not like a, he's nothing 137 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:17,100 like you or me. Yeah, he is nothing like us. 138 00:09:17,100 --> 00:09:21,200 There is no war in him where he comes home on a hard day after 139 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:25,200 work and he's irritable and he's tired and he's trying to love 140 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,000 his kids but he's got that little bit of Rage. 141 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,400 He's trying to stuff down so he can get engaged. 142 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:36,100 God, doesn't ever feel that way God experiences, no inner 143 00:09:36,100 --> 00:09:42,100 conflict, like that, there is a perfect beautiful marriage that 144 00:09:42,100 --> 00:09:45,900 we're going to see come through. This text between his mercy and 145 00:09:45,900 --> 00:09:49,100 his justice. So stand with me for the reading 146 00:09:49,100 --> 00:09:51,200 of God's word. We're going to read Zephaniah 147 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,200 chapter 3 verses one down to verse 13. 148 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:08,900 Verse 1, the Lord says woe to her, who is rebellious and 149 00:10:08,900 --> 00:10:14,800 defile the oppressing city. She listens to no voice. 150 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,800 She accepts. No, correction, she does not 151 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:21,300 trust in the Lord. She does not draw near to her. 152 00:10:21,300 --> 00:10:24,200 God. Borough officials within her are 153 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,900 roaring Lions. Her judges are eating Wolves at, 154 00:10:27,900 --> 00:10:29,500 leave. Nothing to the morning. 155 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,800 Her profits are fickle treacherous men. 156 00:10:33,100 --> 00:10:35,500 Her priest profane. What is Holy? 157 00:10:35,700 --> 00:10:39,500 They do violence to the law. The Lord within her is 158 00:10:39,500 --> 00:10:42,900 righteous. He does no Injustice everywhere. 159 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,200 G'morning. Every day, he shows forth his 160 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:52,500 Justice each Dawn. He does not fail, but the young 161 00:10:52,500 --> 00:10:57,900 just knows no shame. I've caught off Nations, their 162 00:10:57,900 --> 00:11:01,200 battlements are in Ruins. I've laid waste their streets so 163 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,200 that no one walks in them. Their cities have been made 164 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:07,000 desolate without a man without an inhabitant. 165 00:11:07,300 --> 00:11:09,900 I said, surely, you will fear me? 166 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,700 You will accept correction, then your dwelling would not be cut 167 00:11:13,700 --> 00:11:17,100 off according To all that I've appointed against you, but all 168 00:11:17,100 --> 00:11:20,700 the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. 169 00:11:21,700 --> 00:11:25,700 Therefore, wait for me, declares the Lord for the day. 170 00:11:25,700 --> 00:11:28,800 When I Rise up to seize, the pray for my decision is to 171 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,400 gather Nations to assemble kingdoms to pour out upon them, 172 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:36,800 my indignation, all my Burning Anger for in the fire of my 173 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:40,300 jealousy. All the Earth shall be consumed 174 00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:43,700 for, at that time, I will change the speech in the people's to 175 00:11:43,700 --> 00:11:46,100 Pure speech. That all of them may call upon 176 00:11:46,100 --> 00:11:49,900 the name of the Lord and serve him with one Accord from Beyond 177 00:11:49,900 --> 00:11:52,500 the rivers of Cush. My worshippers, the daughter of 178 00:11:52,500 --> 00:11:56,200 my dispersed ones shall bring my offering on that day. 179 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:59,700 You shall not be put to shame because of the Deeds by which 180 00:11:59,700 --> 00:12:03,000 you have rebelled against me for then I will remove from your 181 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,300 midst. You're proudly exultant ones and 182 00:12:06,300 --> 00:12:10,400 you shall no longer be haughty in my Holy Mountain but I will 183 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,200 leave in your midst of people humble and lowly. 184 00:12:14,700 --> 00:12:16,900 They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord. 185 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:20,900 Those who are left in Israel. They shall do no Injustice and 186 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,900 Speak no lies, nor shall they be found in their mouth? 187 00:12:23,900 --> 00:12:29,400 A deceitful tongue for, they shall graze and lie down and 188 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,500 None Shall make them afraid. This is the word of the Lord. 189 00:12:32,500 --> 00:12:35,400 It is good and it is true. You may be seated in his 190 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:45,100 presence. Heavenly Father, we are grateful 191 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:50,900 that you are not like us. We thank you that it in Christ 192 00:12:50,900 --> 00:12:58,200 is met, all the beauty of your Justice and mercy in one person 193 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:02,600 without conflict and we pray now that your spirit would help us 194 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,400 to see that not just so that we can solve an intellectual puzzle 195 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,700 in our minds, but that our hearts might be drawn up in 196 00:13:09,700 --> 00:13:13,600 worship adoration and joy in your presence. 197 00:13:14,100 --> 00:13:16,000 It's in Jesus name that we pray and ask this. 198 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:19,900 Amen. So as we look at this text, 199 00:13:19,900 --> 00:13:23,900 there's a lot here, there's a lot that is said, I certainly 200 00:13:23,900 --> 00:13:27,600 don't have time to go through each and every individual. 201 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:32,900 Piece of it but what I want what I think will be helpful for us 202 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:36,700 in this text is to break it up into four different sections. 203 00:13:37,100 --> 00:13:39,400 We're going to see first God's justice. 204 00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:43,600 We're going to see his justices deserved second third, we're 205 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:47,800 going to see his Justice applied and then last we're going to see 206 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,900 his Justice established. So we're going to see his 207 00:13:50,900 --> 00:13:56,400 Justice his Justice deserved his Justice applied and his Justice 208 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,900 established. So first thing God, Justice. 209 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:06,400 God's justice, we see it clearly in verse 5, verse 5 shows us 210 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:11,200 that God is a just God. It's so it tells us here's 211 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,000 something of his character. It says there that he is 212 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,400 righteous. The Lord within her is 213 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,400 righteous. That means that he is pure, he 214 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:27,100 is good, everything in God or about God is ineffable e and 215 00:14:27,100 --> 00:14:30,400 perfectly pure. He is Holy as the scripture 216 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:35,300 says, As and in him, we see the contrast he there is no 217 00:14:35,300 --> 00:14:40,300 Injustice in him. In verse 5, he does no 218 00:14:40,500 --> 00:14:44,000 Injustice, he does nothing, that is wrong. 219 00:14:44,500 --> 00:14:49,700 There is no inaccuracy. There is no out of control 220 00:14:49,700 --> 00:14:53,000 anger. There is no Injustice. 221 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:58,400 There is no partiality in God. Everything he does all day. 222 00:14:58,700 --> 00:15:04,700 Every day is Perfect is good is just this is what the meaning of 223 00:15:04,700 --> 00:15:06,700 the every morning. He shows forth is Justice. 224 00:15:06,900 --> 00:15:10,500 Every Dawn he does not fail, it means not only every day, but 225 00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:15,000 all day long. God is just, he is a just God, 226 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,300 he doesn't have an off day. He is an unalterable 227 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:25,100 Incorruptible perfectly just God, which is good news because 228 00:15:25,100 --> 00:15:28,300 everything around us is corruptible. 229 00:15:28,900 --> 00:15:34,100 The best presidents, the best CEOs, the best fathers and 230 00:15:34,100 --> 00:15:39,800 mothers are all corruptible and have moments days seasons of 231 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:44,300 corruption. And yet God here is never any 232 00:15:44,300 --> 00:15:48,100 moment of any day in a season of corruption. 233 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:53,900 This is what we try to establish in our Western Jewish 234 00:15:53,900 --> 00:15:57,100 jurisprudence with the image of Lady Justice. 235 00:15:57,500 --> 00:15:59,700 You all seen the statue of Lady Justice. 236 00:15:59,900 --> 00:16:03,500 She's got a blindfold on and she stands out holding the scales of 237 00:16:03,500 --> 00:16:06,800 justice, and she stands there immovable. 238 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,000 There's a reason she's a statue and not an animated cartoon, 239 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:13,700 she's immovable, she does not change. 240 00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:18,400 And she sees know, she, she's blind because she isn't, she's 241 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:24,100 not Moved to lessen the law or strengthen the law based upon 242 00:16:24,100 --> 00:16:27,400 the people that she sees in front of her, she's she stands 243 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,800 strong with the law, and she weighs everyone out on her 244 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:36,000 scales she's impartial. She cannot be corrupted by 245 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,200 seeing something that distracts her corrupts her and as she 246 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:42,900 stands her unaltered by time, she provides Justice. 247 00:16:42,900 --> 00:16:46,100 That's the hope that's the hope of Western jurisprudence right 248 00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:49,000 to provide a stable standard of Justice. 249 00:16:50,100 --> 00:16:52,800 In a far more Transcendent and glorious manner. 250 00:16:53,100 --> 00:16:57,000 God holds the scales of Justice in his hands and not only does 251 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,100 he stand there, measuring out what we do. 252 00:16:59,100 --> 00:17:04,099 Like Lady Justice. What God does himself is just 253 00:17:04,099 --> 00:17:08,400 he's not just determining whether we're just or not, he is 254 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:15,500 just and the reason why Lady Liberty needs a blindfold, Is 255 00:17:15,500 --> 00:17:19,599 because she can be moved and corrupted by what she sees but 256 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:23,800 God needs no blindfold. He is eternally and perfectly 257 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,400 just in all his ways and in all his wants. 258 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,600 And so when God renders Justice or judgment on anything, or 259 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:34,100 anyone and is 100% of the time, accurate, it is 100% of the time 260 00:17:34,100 --> 00:17:36,900 proportional. And it is perfectly met out to 261 00:17:36,900 --> 00:17:40,300 the exact degree and manner in which it is deserved. 262 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,300 That is the image of justice that is being painted for us 263 00:17:44,500 --> 00:17:46,300 here. In Zephaniah. 264 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,300 And so then in verse the second thing we can see is not just 265 00:17:49,300 --> 00:17:52,400 that God is just. We see also that God's justice 266 00:17:52,700 --> 00:17:57,000 is deserved that his Justice here is deserved on the people 267 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,100 of Israel on the, on the, on the nation of Judah. 268 00:18:00,100 --> 00:18:05,400 We see in verses 1 to 7 and here in these verses, God is acting 269 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,600 the part of a judge. He's standing before them 270 00:18:08,900 --> 00:18:14,300 rendering a guilty verdict of a list of sins and crimes against 271 00:18:14,300 --> 00:18:16,400 him. And he finds Israel. 272 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:20,900 Guilty of the number of crimes here in verse 1. 273 00:18:20,900 --> 00:18:25,600 He says that of Israel that they are rebellious defiled 274 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:29,000 oppressors. That they are corrupt. 275 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:34,800 Verse 3 shows that it's all the way up to the top of Israelite 276 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,700 society that their officials are roaring. 277 00:18:37,700 --> 00:18:44,800 Lions, their judges are evening wolves and then this phrase that 278 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,800 That they couldn't believe nothing for the morning meaning 279 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,500 that they're out just devouring. The people that they rule over 280 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:56,800 abusing their power, exploiting people oppressing people and 281 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:03,100 just robbing the people of life and flourishing, Their leaders 282 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:08,500 are corrupt. Verse 4, it gets worse, their 283 00:19:08,500 --> 00:19:13,700 profits are fickle. Meaning they aren't committed to 284 00:19:13,700 --> 00:19:16,300 the lord, they're also committed to other gods. 285 00:19:18,300 --> 00:19:22,000 They're also their prophets who are supposed to speak on behalf 286 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:27,100 of God are also taking turns. Speaking with bail and milk, 287 00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:30,100 mmm, they've brought idolatry into the temple. 288 00:19:30,300 --> 00:19:34,600 It says that they're treacherous men with that word in Hebrew is 289 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,700 better translated as Reckless or thoughtless. 290 00:19:37,900 --> 00:19:41,900 It means that these these prophets, these leaders, these 291 00:19:41,900 --> 00:19:45,700 priests as they come into the worship of God, they do not 292 00:19:45,700 --> 00:19:50,500 fear, God, they're Reckless. God is not going to do anything 293 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:53,700 that we learned that in chapter 1, that the people of Israel 294 00:19:53,700 --> 00:19:58,500 were saying, you know, He probably won't do anything bad. 295 00:19:58,500 --> 00:20:01,400 Like we don't need to worry about God, he's not going to 296 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:06,700 act, he's for us, right? They presumed upon the mercy of 297 00:20:06,700 --> 00:20:09,900 God, they were Thoughtless and Reckless about it. 298 00:20:10,300 --> 00:20:14,300 They were profane and brought in violence, bringing in child, 299 00:20:14,300 --> 00:20:17,600 sacrifice into the temple worship of God. 300 00:20:19,100 --> 00:20:22,200 And then in verse 5, they know no, shame. 301 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:26,100 They don't even try to hide it. They don't they put their 302 00:20:26,100 --> 00:20:30,500 corruption, their oppression. Their idolatry on public 303 00:20:30,500 --> 00:20:33,600 display. There was no shame in them about 304 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,800 it. They were perfectly comfortable 305 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,600 in the midst of their corruption. 306 00:20:41,300 --> 00:20:43,000 These are the charges against them. 307 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:50,400 And in verse 1, we see that God begins by saying guilty which is 308 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:52,900 what that word. Whoa means at the beginning of 309 00:20:52,900 --> 00:20:57,100 the of the passage in verse 1, whoa to her, God is saying this 310 00:20:57,100 --> 00:21:01,600 is your guilt. You are guilty of these crimes. 311 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:06,300 This is not a mere accusation of Oppression exploitation or 312 00:21:06,300 --> 00:21:09,100 corruption. This is a guilty verdict that 313 00:21:09,100 --> 00:21:13,200 they have been judged and they stand legally guilty of these 314 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,100 crimes before God. And to be frank, they deserve 315 00:21:17,100 --> 00:21:19,700 it. They deserve it. 316 00:21:20,300 --> 00:21:24,900 I mean, we've learned over the last few weeks, the depths of 317 00:21:24,900 --> 00:21:30,400 Israel's swim into the corruption of the Nations. 318 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:36,100 That surrounded them And so, they deserve it. 319 00:21:37,100 --> 00:21:43,100 And you know we get this you and I we get this, we get this 320 00:21:43,100 --> 00:21:51,200 because if you go online and you type in a phrase like how many 321 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,400 pastors have been guilty of molesting children? 322 00:21:54,900 --> 00:21:58,900 How many priests? How many churches have been 323 00:21:58,900 --> 00:22:06,800 engaging in financial swindling? The frauding their people, but 324 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,700 we know in the Southern Baptist convention, 700 pastors were 325 00:22:10,700 --> 00:22:13,100 accused of sexual sins against minors. 326 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:17,100 We know that nearly 6,000 priests in the Catholic Church. 327 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:22,000 Not much. But the reality is is that there 328 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:31,600 hasn't these sins that Israel stands guilty of persist We know 329 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:35,300 and to one degree or another participate in their guilt. 330 00:22:36,500 --> 00:22:41,400 Which is frightening. It's a frightening reality and 331 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,700 it's a something that as a church. 332 00:22:43,700 --> 00:22:46,900 I mean, God recognizes, he's willing to call out Corruption 333 00:22:47,900 --> 00:22:52,900 of abusive, horrible leaders in his day and no doubt he would 334 00:22:52,900 --> 00:22:54,500 do. So in our, in does, so in our 335 00:22:54,500 --> 00:22:56,900 day, which is why it's good, when this stuff makes it on the 336 00:22:56,900 --> 00:23:01,200 news, Exposing it so that shame doesn't stay hidden. 337 00:23:04,300 --> 00:23:08,100 But it gets worse. You can imagine it gets worse 338 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,600 and verse to look at what it says there. 339 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:15,900 In verse 2. She listens to no voice and 340 00:23:15,900 --> 00:23:22,400 accepts, no, correction Meaning God has tried with these people, 341 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,300 he's tried, he sent prophets to him, a hundred years earlier. 342 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:30,200 He sent the prophet Isaiah and Isaiah promised, all of these 343 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:34,200 same judgments to Israel and said that the Babylonians going 344 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:38,800 to come and do what he's talking about here. 100 years early. 345 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,900 God was like, please don't go down this road repent, do 346 00:23:42,900 --> 00:23:46,800 something different. And yet they don't care. 347 00:23:47,100 --> 00:23:51,000 They don't listen, they didn't listen and verses 6 and 7, look 348 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:56,400 at verses 6 and 7 the lengths to which God went to try to prevent 349 00:23:57,100 --> 00:23:59,400 this judgment from falling upon them. 350 00:23:59,700 --> 00:24:03,500 He says, I've caught off Nations there in battlements, there in 351 00:24:03,500 --> 00:24:05,300 Ruins. I've laid waste their street so 352 00:24:05,300 --> 00:24:07,700 that no one walks in them. Their cities have been made 353 00:24:07,700 --> 00:24:11,900 desolate thought a man without an inhabitant I said listen, I 354 00:24:11,900 --> 00:24:16,300 said surely surely. You will fear me. 355 00:24:17,700 --> 00:24:20,300 Surely you will accept correction. 356 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,100 So the same wouldn't happen to you. 357 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:30,700 But the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. 358 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:38,500 Look how dark that is. God has gone to extreme lengths 359 00:24:38,700 --> 00:24:43,400 by, not only giving them profits, but destroying Nations 360 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,900 around them to help them. See if you continue down this 361 00:24:46,900 --> 00:24:48,900 path, this is what's going to happen to you. 362 00:24:49,100 --> 00:24:54,200 And they just said nah. Nah, we're going to keep moving. 363 00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:00,300 We're going to keep going. It and seeing it and appears to 364 00:25:00,300 --> 00:25:03,900 just emboldened them. And though, God has exercise 365 00:25:03,900 --> 00:25:07,000 patience. He's warned them and they refuse 366 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:13,300 to listen to them. They put forward what I think 367 00:25:13,300 --> 00:25:15,800 can be just be summarized if we were to summarize, this is the 368 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:20,800 one big sin based upon what we can see happening in this text 369 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:23,200 is this, they were self-sufficient. 370 00:25:24,500 --> 00:25:28,600 Their sense of self, sufficiency their sense of autonomy, their 371 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:34,500 sense of we don't need God, their self-sufficiency defined, 372 00:25:35,100 --> 00:25:40,300 the very core of their sin. This is is, this is what pride 373 00:25:40,300 --> 00:25:43,500 is pride. Could essentially be defined as 374 00:25:43,500 --> 00:25:48,100 self-sufficiency in verse 2. She doesn't listen to a voice. 375 00:25:48,100 --> 00:25:51,300 She doesn't accept. Correction, she does not trust 376 00:25:51,300 --> 00:25:53,200 in the Lord, she self-sufficient. 377 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:55,800 She doesn't draw near to her God. 378 00:25:55,900 --> 00:25:59,600 She's got it. She's got her own plans, her own 379 00:25:59,700 --> 00:26:03,400 her own vision of the future. Her own vision for her life, she 380 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,800 does not need God. She does not want him. 381 00:26:07,700 --> 00:26:11,900 And so she presses forward. And this is this is what I this 382 00:26:11,900 --> 00:26:17,400 is also, how idolatry happens idolatry comes the worshipping 383 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:22,200 of an idol comes because someone has looked at God and said, I 384 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,400 really don't think you're going to do good for me. 385 00:26:26,100 --> 00:26:30,100 I know what's good for me and I will choose a god of my own 386 00:26:30,100 --> 00:26:34,500 making, or my of a different kind that I think is superior to 387 00:26:34,500 --> 00:26:37,500 you. And I will of my own wisdom and 388 00:26:37,500 --> 00:26:40,400 my own judgment and have out of my own. 389 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:46,900 Sufficiency, create a God for me to worship instead, I'll carve a 390 00:26:46,908 --> 00:26:51,900 block of wood out and worship it in sacrifice my children, so 391 00:26:51,900 --> 00:26:56,900 that I can have blessing and flourish in life, they did not 392 00:26:56,900 --> 00:27:02,600 depend upon God, they depended upon themselves or trusted 393 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:08,400 trusted their wisdom and in and Outsourcing their needs to some 394 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:13,200 Lesser God, whether it's bail or milk them from chapter one, 395 00:27:14,300 --> 00:27:18,100 self-sufficiency is pride and pride does not need. 396 00:27:18,100 --> 00:27:20,900 God Pride does not listen to him. 397 00:27:22,300 --> 00:27:25,400 Or it just outsources, the needs to another source of fine 398 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,900 Superior to God. It truly rests upon the South 399 00:27:29,900 --> 00:27:35,900 Upon Our Own egos, our own, our own resources, to get what we 400 00:27:35,900 --> 00:27:38,000 want. And what we feel like we need in 401 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,200 life. This is, as we've seen every 402 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,800 week that we've looked at this. This is at the bottom of what 403 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:47,200 happened with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden Eve. 404 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:51,200 Looked at the fruit and she said, I think this looks better 405 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,600 than all the other fruit and, you know, what? 406 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:58,400 God, I don't need you telling me what to do, and I certainly 407 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,400 don't need to follow your rules. I'm going to go serve my own 408 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:05,400 interests, because I think if I get these interest, I'll 409 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:09,200 actually be like you and be able to rule the world on my own. 410 00:28:10,300 --> 00:28:12,200 I'll be self-sufficient before you. 411 00:28:13,900 --> 00:28:17,800 When we make the choice to become self-sufficient to not 412 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,500 listen to him and depend upon him, were ushered into a world 413 00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:25,800 of corruption and death. This manner, this pathway of 414 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:32,400 Life, only leads to death, we literally cannot thrive in 415 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,600 self-sufficiency. It is the biggest lie that there 416 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:39,300 is, we were never created to be self-sufficient, we were created 417 00:28:39,300 --> 00:28:43,600 to be eternally dependent upon God, in all things. 418 00:28:43,700 --> 00:28:48,100 To not only for our wisdom, but for our provision in life, we 419 00:28:48,100 --> 00:28:50,600 cannot thrive in self-sufficiency. 420 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,000 Israel determine for themselves. If they would do this. 421 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,300 And they has gone on for so long that they've come to the 422 00:29:00,300 --> 00:29:03,500 Pinnacle to the climax of their corruption. 423 00:29:03,700 --> 00:29:08,800 And now, stand guilty, deserving of God's judgment for this crime 424 00:29:09,700 --> 00:29:15,100 and for all of the sins that have flourished and brought 425 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:19,400 deadly fruit from it. And so we not only see that this 426 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:24,700 is just that God's justice and that it is deserved we see. 427 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:29,000 Next that it's actually applied. We see God's justice applied 428 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:34,600 verse, 8 shows us how God is going to apply his Justice. 429 00:29:34,900 --> 00:29:38,600 Verse 8 is the climax of the book, just like, in any movie, 430 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,600 you come to a climax. And then there's resolution. 431 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,400 We are now at the climax in verse 8, verse 8 is the 432 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:49,800 Pinnacle. It is the The height of all the 433 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:54,300 justice of God being rained down in upon these people. 434 00:29:57,700 --> 00:30:00,000 We see that God is going to unleash his judgment. 435 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,500 And he says there in verse a, wait for me, now, this is 436 00:30:04,500 --> 00:30:10,000 ironic, and if you read the Bible at all, you know why this 437 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,100 is ironic? Because usually in the Bible, 438 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:18,400 when God says, wait for me, it's a good thing, right? 439 00:30:18,700 --> 00:30:21,300 We practice Solitude is one of our spiritual disciplines in 440 00:30:21,300 --> 00:30:25,000 this church, which is waiting on God. 441 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,200 And yet waiting here. Here is a waiting for judgment, 442 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:34,100 which is crazy, right? Psalm chapter 37 verse 9, verse 443 00:30:34,100 --> 00:30:35,700 34. I mean, it's everywhere, all of 444 00:30:35,708 --> 00:30:38,900 the Psalms, but you can, you see in there that God is saying 445 00:30:39,300 --> 00:30:42,900 those who wait, on me will flourish those who wait on me, 446 00:30:42,900 --> 00:30:46,300 will have life those who wait on me, will be blessed. 447 00:30:46,300 --> 00:30:49,200 And here, what is the waiting for? 448 00:30:51,300 --> 00:30:55,300 For when I Rise up to bring judgment on you. but when I Rise 449 00:30:55,300 --> 00:31:00,400 up to bring judgment upon you, God is saying people wait on me 450 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:04,800 because the judgments coming which is a horrible reversal of 451 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,200 blessing. It's a horrifying. 452 00:31:07,500 --> 00:31:10,100 A horrifying statement that God would call the people to do that 453 00:31:10,100 --> 00:31:11,500 and then he said something weird. 454 00:31:11,700 --> 00:31:16,300 He says, he says in verse 8, for the day when I Rise up to seize 455 00:31:16,300 --> 00:31:19,800 the prey, What does he mean by that? 456 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:27,300 Now, this is not just some biblical trivia but in the book 457 00:31:27,300 --> 00:31:31,600 of Isaiah, Isaiah is giving a similar mation message to the 458 00:31:31,608 --> 00:31:35,200 people of Israel. And God always has prophets do 459 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,800 really weird things. He always has them, do weird 460 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:39,700 things to get their message across and one of the things 461 00:31:39,700 --> 00:31:44,700 that God did with Isaiah was he wanted him to name his children 462 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,600 In such a manner that his children's names would be a 463 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:52,700 representation of the message for the nation of the prophecy 464 00:31:52,700 --> 00:31:57,500 for the nation. And one of Isaiah's, son's got 465 00:31:57,500 --> 00:32:00,700 the longest name in the Bible. So if you want to win a trivia 466 00:32:00,700 --> 00:32:03,500 quiz, here you go. The longest name in the Bible is 467 00:32:03,500 --> 00:32:10,100 Maher, shall hash? Baz name, your kids that Yes, 468 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,900 it's a great idea. Ma hair shall L. 469 00:32:14,900 --> 00:32:18,800 Hash baths, literally, translated that. 470 00:32:18,900 --> 00:32:24,300 That name reads like this when the prey quickens the spoil 471 00:32:24,300 --> 00:32:29,700 hastens, when the prey quickens the spoil hastens. 472 00:32:29,900 --> 00:32:33,700 And we see that here for the day when I Rise up to see the pray. 473 00:32:33,700 --> 00:32:39,300 God is saying well I prophesied through Isaiah's son is coming 474 00:32:39,500 --> 00:32:43,100 and wait for it because what that weirdly worded phrase. 475 00:32:43,300 --> 00:32:46,700 Means it means the faster you run from God's judgment the 476 00:32:46,700 --> 00:32:51,600 faster his judgments coming upon you mean you can run but you 477 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:53,600 can't hide. God has come in faster than you 478 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,600 can run. Which is crazy. 479 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:02,500 That's horrifying. And note here, there's a shift 480 00:33:02,500 --> 00:33:05,000 in the language. It goes from Judah to now 481 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,800 incorporating the nation's my decision is to gather the 482 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,900 nation's God is not just going to bring this judgment upon 483 00:33:11,900 --> 00:33:15,600 Israel. Israel is the center of it and 484 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,000 then like an atom bomb going out. 485 00:33:18,100 --> 00:33:21,600 Its landing on Israel and its exploding out to the Nations 486 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,000 around them. God's judgment is being poured 487 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,600 out in this manner. And we're told how they're going 488 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:33,800 to be consumed in indignation, anger jealousy. 489 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:38,300 To the point of being consumed. It's a judgment of Fire. 490 00:33:39,300 --> 00:33:43,900 Coming out from God. God is an assistance going to 491 00:33:43,900 --> 00:33:48,900 cut them out at the legs. And what he's going to do is 492 00:33:48,900 --> 00:33:52,100 he's going to force them to the ground to be dependent. 493 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:56,000 Israel and the nation's deserve this. 494 00:33:56,500 --> 00:34:00,800 It is coming. And as we've already noted, this 495 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:05,200 cups corruption problematically is not alien to us. 496 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,500 We share in the guilt of the nation's. 497 00:34:08,900 --> 00:34:11,699 We sharing the guilt of Israel, because if there's anything I 498 00:34:11,699 --> 00:34:15,699 know about American society, there's anything I know about 499 00:34:15,699 --> 00:34:20,500 us, rich comfortable Americans. It is that we are 500 00:34:20,500 --> 00:34:24,300 self-sufficient. Our own self. 501 00:34:24,300 --> 00:34:28,199 Sufficiency may not have manifested itself, the way in 502 00:34:28,199 --> 00:34:31,199 which it has done for these Israelites or the Nations that 503 00:34:31,199 --> 00:34:34,000 surround them. But no doubt we are 504 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,500 self-sufficient people. We have air conditioning for 505 00:34:37,500 --> 00:34:41,699 goodness sake, right? We have bank accounts and 401ks, 506 00:34:41,900 --> 00:34:47,400 we have the concept of retirement, which means that we 507 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:50,400 can depend on God for a paycheck today. 508 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,800 So that later we don't have to Right. 509 00:34:56,300 --> 00:34:59,900 Retirement itself. The whole image of the concept 510 00:34:59,900 --> 00:35:04,500 of the American dream and of retirement is the effort to 511 00:35:04,500 --> 00:35:09,000 transcend our dependence upon God so that we can fully and 512 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:14,100 finally rest in the achievements that we've accomplished and not 513 00:35:14,100 --> 00:35:19,200 have to worry to be secure because we've we've saved up 514 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:21,100 enough money so that we can rest. 515 00:35:21,500 --> 00:35:25,900 It is the crowning Pinnacle of American Self. 516 00:35:26,100 --> 00:35:29,400 Efficiency and all of us, chase it. 517 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:33,300 We Chase it because we hate being dependent upon God, just 518 00:35:33,300 --> 00:35:37,300 as much as these people do did in this day, and that's why they 519 00:35:37,300 --> 00:35:39,000 went after other gods. That said, well, if you 520 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,100 sacrifice your child to me, I'll give you everything you want 521 00:35:42,100 --> 00:35:45,700 today. There's attractive, it's the 522 00:35:45,700 --> 00:35:48,600 same way. Why are idolatries today are 523 00:35:48,700 --> 00:35:51,400 attractive and to varying degrees? 524 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:55,700 We participate in and contribute to the corruption and evil in 525 00:35:55,700 --> 00:35:58,800 our world today. And the question is, no, the 526 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:00,300 right question is. Okay. 527 00:36:00,300 --> 00:36:03,900 God will, where's the love? Where's the grace? 528 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:09,300 Because now I this is we get to this point and here's the 529 00:36:09,300 --> 00:36:10,500 problem. Here's the problem. 530 00:36:10,500 --> 00:36:12,700 We started with God's judgment yet. 531 00:36:12,700 --> 00:36:14,200 It's right. He's right. 532 00:36:14,300 --> 00:36:17,400 We are self-sufficient, people. These Israelites are 533 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:21,000 self-sufficient. People is there a hippie in God? 534 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,400 That's going to love me. Is he going to win out? 535 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,200 Or is this just judge is going to come and burn me alive. 536 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:31,500 How do we deal with this? How do we work through this? 537 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:37,300 And so then in verses 9 to 13, we see how God's justice is 538 00:36:37,300 --> 00:36:41,100 established. The last point then how God's 539 00:36:41,100 --> 00:36:46,000 justice is established. And really if you have a Bible 540 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,200 like mine, it's unfortunate. I don't think it was put here 541 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:55,100 for bad reasons or whatever but you CA see a title at the verse 542 00:36:55,100 --> 00:36:57,600 right before verse 9, it says the conversion of the Nations 543 00:36:57,900 --> 00:37:02,600 and it gives the implication that Zephaniah has moved on to 544 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:07,100 another another subject. That he's that he's done with 545 00:37:07,100 --> 00:37:09,300 verse eight and now we're going to change the subject and talk 546 00:37:09,300 --> 00:37:12,300 about something different. We got the Judgment piece and 547 00:37:12,300 --> 00:37:14,200 now we're going to move on to something a little bit more 548 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:18,900 happy. Well in the original scripture 549 00:37:18,900 --> 00:37:21,300 in the Hebrew tax, there is no break here. 550 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:25,000 This is a following the same thought of verse 8. 551 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:28,400 In fact I would like to see the numbers removed out of here 552 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:31,000 because those were added much later in the in the history of 553 00:37:31,008 --> 00:37:33,500 the church. We're not part of the Original 554 00:37:33,500 --> 00:37:38,200 Scriptures, we put them they're here to help us find them but 555 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,400 here it implies that God is doing something different from 556 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,700 verse 8. Verses 9 to 13. 557 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,900 Show us how God's justice is established. 558 00:37:47,900 --> 00:37:50,400 And it is not how you think it's going to come. 559 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:55,300 It is not how we think it's going to come something 560 00:37:55,400 --> 00:38:00,000 miraculous happens here when God's judgment comes. 561 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:05,300 We find that it is beautifully and perfectly married with mercy 562 00:38:06,300 --> 00:38:10,500 and it does not fully destroy. But instead when his Justice 563 00:38:10,500 --> 00:38:16,800 falls upon the Earth, It purifies it not only purifies 564 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:21,600 but it transforms and it brings life out of corruption and 565 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:25,900 brings life out of death. You and I know this, we see this 566 00:38:25,900 --> 00:38:27,600 kind of this kind of thing happening. 567 00:38:27,700 --> 00:38:31,500 I mean when I was a kid I was growing up out in the on a farm 568 00:38:31,500 --> 00:38:35,300 out in the middle of nowhere and I would always see farmers in 569 00:38:35,300 --> 00:38:38,900 the fall, taking an intentionally burning their 570 00:38:38,900 --> 00:38:42,300 property. You've all seen this growing in 571 00:38:42,300 --> 00:38:45,000 Iowa, if you've will, even if you've been in town, any travel 572 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:49,200 out of town on I-80, anytime, you will see clouds of smoke 573 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:54,100 pouring up out of fields because farmers are literally bringing 574 00:38:54,100 --> 00:38:58,500 death and judgement upon their fields literally burning their 575 00:38:58,500 --> 00:39:01,000 fields, which you would think to yourself? 576 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:05,900 How's that gonna help? what God has built these 577 00:39:05,900 --> 00:39:09,900 principles these realities into our world that through the fire 578 00:39:10,300 --> 00:39:14,900 burning off impurities, and bringing carbon into the soil, 579 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:21,000 makes a nourishing environment for healthy, fruitful life to 580 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,900 flourish, And this is what we see happening in Verdun in 581 00:39:25,900 --> 00:39:29,300 verses 9 to 13. Is that God's judgment and his 582 00:39:29,300 --> 00:39:33,900 Mercy are so beautifully. Intertwined, that even the 583 00:39:33,900 --> 00:39:37,900 expression of his judgment has Mercy built into it. 584 00:39:37,900 --> 00:39:43,500 So that through it life emerges, which is wild you, and I don't 585 00:39:43,500 --> 00:39:46,300 do this. You and I, when I bring judgment 586 00:39:46,300 --> 00:39:49,800 on somebody, there's a reason why the Bible says be angry and 587 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,600 do not sin because usually, when we're angry, And we got judgment 588 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:57,200 to bring, it's got a lot of corruption built in with it. 589 00:39:58,700 --> 00:40:03,400 We don't know how to do this. We just we struggle with this. 590 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:10,300 God's intention through his judgment here is not intended to 591 00:40:10,300 --> 00:40:16,000 in to destroy to the uttermost. But to destroy in order to 592 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:20,500 purify and bring forth fruit. We see this, we see this through 593 00:40:20,500 --> 00:40:26,800 these verses He says in verse 9 that at that time, I'm going to 594 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:32,400 change the speech of the people. He's going to change the speech 595 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:35,500 of the people. Why is God going to change 596 00:40:35,500 --> 00:40:38,600 people's speech? That's such a weird thing and 597 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,900 speech is kind of a theme through this section. 598 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:44,600 He says, there are going to change the people speech in 599 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:49,200 verse 9 He also says he's going to says that they're going to 600 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,500 call upon my name which means that they're going to use their 601 00:40:52,500 --> 00:40:56,200 speech in such a manner to depend upon God in verse 10, 602 00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:59,000 they're going to be worshippers. So they're going to be 603 00:40:59,100 --> 00:41:02,400 worshipping God using their mouths and worship to him. 604 00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:05,500 Rather than Idols, in verse 13, they're going to speak. 605 00:41:05,500 --> 00:41:07,300 No lies. They're not going to have a 606 00:41:07,300 --> 00:41:12,500 deceitful tongue in their mouth. What is going on with speech In 607 00:41:12,500 --> 00:41:16,300 this passage? Well, the reason why is because 608 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:20,100 Because of what Jesus tells us in Matthew 15 Verse 18 should be 609 00:41:20,100 --> 00:41:24,200 up on your screen. Jesus says this about our 610 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,800 speech, he says, whatever comes out of your mouth proceeds from 611 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:34,200 the heart. This means that the Israelites 612 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:42,300 worship of other gods, their corruption there, their refusal 613 00:41:42,300 --> 00:41:47,400 to worship God and worship other Idols came not just not just 614 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:52,000 from a sense of a not just from an intellectual problem, but it 615 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:53,500 is what they felt in their heart. 616 00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:58,700 And what God is showing us here in verse in verses, 9 to 13, is 617 00:41:58,700 --> 00:42:03,800 that God is actually aiming his judgment to purify the hearts of 618 00:42:03,808 --> 00:42:06,500 his people. That's at the bottom of what's 619 00:42:06,500 --> 00:42:10,200 Happening Here. God's judgment is not 620 00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:15,700 destroying, but transforming In this passage, he's transforming 621 00:42:15,700 --> 00:42:18,000 us. Not just in our thoughts and in 622 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:22,700 our actions, but at the deepest level of who we are as humans in 623 00:42:22,700 --> 00:42:27,300 our very Al's, he's transforming The Souls of the people because 624 00:42:27,300 --> 00:42:31,600 of the mouth and Essence, is the PA system for the heart. 625 00:42:32,300 --> 00:42:35,400 God is saying here, when I bring my judgment, it's for this 626 00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:36,600 reason. I'm going to transform your 627 00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:41,000 hearts and through God's judgment will come a miraculous 628 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:42,900 transformation of the human heart. 629 00:42:43,100 --> 00:42:46,000 And not just in Judah, but globally. 630 00:42:46,700 --> 00:42:49,400 And we see this we see this throughout the scriptures in 631 00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:53,800 Isaiah chapter six, beautiful picture of the glory of God 632 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:55,300 filled In the temple in the prophet. 633 00:42:55,300 --> 00:42:58,300 Isaiah is standing there. And what does he realize? 634 00:42:58,500 --> 00:43:02,400 I am a man of unclean lips. He says, woe is me. 635 00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:04,100 I'm guilty. Just like, Israel. 636 00:43:04,500 --> 00:43:10,700 I have unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. 637 00:43:10,900 --> 00:43:15,400 And what does God do? He brings a coal burning fire, 638 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:19,200 and he touches it to his lips. Not to burn them, so he'll never 639 00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:23,300 speak again, but to purify them to go out and prophesy. 640 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:27,100 This is what God is doing in this text. 641 00:43:27,100 --> 00:43:32,400 He is bringing the fire of judgment not to utterly destroy, 642 00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:36,800 but to purify our lips and to purify our hearts to transform 643 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:40,900 us into the worshipers and the people that he has called us to 644 00:43:40,900 --> 00:43:52,300 be. we struggle with this because our judgment doesn't 645 00:43:52,300 --> 00:43:58,900 produce that. and we know this when judges sit in courts with 646 00:43:58,900 --> 00:44:04,900 Lady Justice, Lady Justice has to be blind because she's so, 647 00:44:05,300 --> 00:44:11,200 she's so prone to corruption and yet what we find in our prisons, 648 00:44:12,500 --> 00:44:15,900 We find Injustice in our prisons and the way in which our law 649 00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:18,600 Lady Justice can't look at the laws and she certainly has no 650 00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:20,400 empathy on anybody and she's not going to see. 651 00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:23,100 Oh man, there's way more black people in prison than there are 652 00:44:23,100 --> 00:44:25,000 white people. Is there a problem with the 653 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:26,600 laws. She doesn't see it. 654 00:44:28,900 --> 00:44:34,200 She doesn't see that and not only that, she can't rule in a 655 00:44:34,208 --> 00:44:38,900 way that's helpful in that way. But not only that, she can't 656 00:44:38,900 --> 00:44:42,800 rehabilitate anybody who's in there and you talk to a 657 00:44:42,808 --> 00:44:45,000 teenager. My kids are teenagers, and one 658 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,000 of the things, my kids are always very fascinated with. 659 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:49,600 And I think young people in general care about this, as we 660 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,600 look at our prison system, and we think to ourselves, wouldn't 661 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,000 it be nice if when prisoners came out of prison? 662 00:44:55,300 --> 00:44:59,900 They weren't only paying the price of Justice but came out 663 00:44:59,900 --> 00:45:03,300 changed on the other side. Wouldn't that be nice and 664 00:45:03,900 --> 00:45:06,600 cultures all around the world have tried different strategies, 665 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:09,200 to figure out a way to rehabilitate people because our 666 00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:13,700 methods of Justice while they get some sense of justice and 667 00:45:13,700 --> 00:45:18,200 some weird and almost Right Way can never actually change the 668 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:19,800 hearts of the people that are inside. 669 00:45:20,700 --> 00:45:23,600 And yet what we see God doing here is in his exercise of 670 00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:27,400 Justice, he doesn't just establish justice but he makes 671 00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:32,300 just people Out of their corruption, which is incredible. 672 00:45:32,900 --> 00:45:37,700 And we see this in verse 9, they call upon the name of the Lord, 673 00:45:37,700 --> 00:45:40,900 not bail. They learn to be dependent upon 674 00:45:40,900 --> 00:45:43,800 God and not Idols. They learn to be dependent upon 675 00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:47,900 God and not self-sufficient. God is transforming you. 676 00:45:48,100 --> 00:45:52,200 Like he is transforming these people into dependent people to 677 00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:55,700 be in the ideal state, in which he intended to create Us in 678 00:45:55,700 --> 00:45:58,200 verse 11. They're not going to be exalted. 679 00:45:58,700 --> 00:46:01,300 They're not going to be haughty, they're not going to have pride 680 00:46:01,300 --> 00:46:03,500 ourselves efficiency. They're going to be dependent 681 00:46:03,500 --> 00:46:09,100 and verse 12, they are going to be humble and lowly ones which 682 00:46:09,100 --> 00:46:11,600 means they're going to go to God in Refuge. 683 00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:15,000 He says they're they're going to hide in him not in bail. 684 00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:18,000 They're gonna hide in him and not in their 401K. 685 00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:24,000 They're going to hide in Jesus, where their safety, not in their 686 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:28,800 own self, sufficiency It leads to no Injustice. 687 00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:33,700 It leads to no lies. It means they begin to image God 688 00:46:33,700 --> 00:46:38,400 in verse 5. God transforms people so that 689 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:42,400 people start to look like him. Which is. 690 00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:47,900 Wild because our image of Justice just looks like death. 691 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:52,700 But for God, his Justice brings life and transformation. 692 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:57,200 Which is incredible. It's good news for us. 693 00:46:57,400 --> 00:47:00,600 It's not just true for Israel. Centuries ago is true for us 694 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:03,600 today and God has done this for us in Jesus. 695 00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:09,300 Amen. God is doing this through Jesus, 696 00:47:09,300 --> 00:47:12,900 in his gospel work. Jesus, did this for us in his 697 00:47:12,900 --> 00:47:15,900 life. In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus goes 698 00:47:15,900 --> 00:47:21,000 into the Wilderness to deal with the gods of the Nations, he goes 699 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,800 into the Wilderness facing Satan. 700 00:47:23,900 --> 00:47:29,200 In his most vulnerable state not having eaten for 40 days and 40 701 00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:32,900 nights and what a Satan do. He comes to him and he says, 702 00:47:32,900 --> 00:47:38,000 hey, you're hungry Turn that turn that stone into bread and 703 00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:40,500 have a meal. And what does Jesus say? 704 00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:43,100 I don't depend upon bread from my life. 705 00:47:43,500 --> 00:47:48,300 I depend upon the word of God. Jesus is the dependent man. 706 00:47:48,900 --> 00:47:51,700 He is the dependent atom that we needed. 707 00:47:52,300 --> 00:47:56,400 He is dependent upon God in ways that we cannot be. 708 00:47:56,400 --> 00:48:02,500 He is humble dependent for us. And then Satan says, throw 709 00:48:02,500 --> 00:48:05,100 yourself from this Temple if you really trust God. 710 00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:09,700 If you're so dependent upon God, go ahead and throw yourself from 711 00:48:09,700 --> 00:48:14,100 this Temple will see how really did how reliable this God is for 712 00:48:14,100 --> 00:48:18,200 you. And it's a I mean I got to give 713 00:48:18,200 --> 00:48:20,600 Satan some credit here. This is good trick. 714 00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:22,800 You and I wouldn't have thought of this. 715 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:27,000 This is a good trick because he puts Jesus in a catch-22. 716 00:48:27,300 --> 00:48:32,800 Hey if you really trust God, if you really dependent upon him 717 00:48:33,100 --> 00:48:38,600 you can just throw yourself off. But then also if you don't do it 718 00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:41,000 then you're also proving that you don't really depend upon 719 00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:44,500 God. So he tries to get Jesus in a 720 00:48:44,508 --> 00:48:48,400 catch-22 and what he says is, you know what, I'm not going to 721 00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:52,400 put God to the test. Meaning I'm not I depend upon 722 00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:57,100 him so fully and so much that I don't need to have it proven to 723 00:48:57,100 --> 00:49:02,200 me or anybody else? I have just resigned myself to 724 00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:08,400 Humble, dependence upon him. And then Satan offers him power 725 00:49:08,500 --> 00:49:12,300 Prestige, and glory. And Jesus instead Delights in 726 00:49:12,300 --> 00:49:13,700 God. More than he Delights in the 727 00:49:13,700 --> 00:49:17,800 power and the and and Prestige of the world, Jesus proves 728 00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:22,200 himself to be the man of humility that we cannot be. 729 00:49:22,700 --> 00:49:26,900 Jesus himself proves himself to be the man who Rejects 730 00:49:26,900 --> 00:49:30,500 self-sufficiency and depends upon God and he does that for 731 00:49:30,500 --> 00:49:33,800 you. And me he goes to into the cross 732 00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:38,400 a dependent man. And indoors, the wrath of God in 733 00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:44,900 verse 8, upon himself for our forgiveness, Jesus, endured this 734 00:49:44,900 --> 00:49:49,300 fire of God, so that we would not be consumed but so that he 735 00:49:49,300 --> 00:49:53,000 would bear the punishment of God, the wrath of God, for our 736 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:56,100 hope of forgiveness. And then he rises from the dead 737 00:49:56,300 --> 00:50:00,100 emerging from the scorched, Earth of God's justice, like a 738 00:50:00,100 --> 00:50:04,900 new shoe bringing forth, New Life, New Creation, New Hope, 739 00:50:04,900 --> 00:50:07,300 and Transformation for all who trust in him? 740 00:50:07,500 --> 00:50:10,900 That is the got that is what God has done for you. 741 00:50:12,300 --> 00:50:15,100 Through his death. And Resurrection comes the 742 00:50:15,100 --> 00:50:19,100 transformation in our hearts that we see here, this is where 743 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:21,500 your hope is. This is where my hope is. 744 00:50:21,700 --> 00:50:24,400 And as we find safety, and Jesus were transformed. 745 00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:26,800 We aren't just pronounced forgiven. 746 00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:31,400 We are transformed through this expression of God's judgment. 747 00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:35,600 Our hearts are transformed into dependent worshipers of God and 748 00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:39,400 him alone. And this gives us what this is 749 00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:42,900 another reason why the speaking In tongues and Acts chapter, 2 750 00:50:42,900 --> 00:50:45,800 is so important because they have tongues that send. 751 00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:50,100 It says the content of their tongues was sink was speaking of 752 00:50:50,100 --> 00:50:55,300 the wonderful Deeds of the Lord, their tongues were used to 753 00:50:55,300 --> 00:50:57,600 praise God. And there's a reason why all the 754 00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:01,900 nations are there because their hearts were transformed to speak 755 00:51:01,900 --> 00:51:06,700 in a language that would that would extol God and not the gods 756 00:51:06,700 --> 00:51:12,500 of their Nations. See we struggle and I struggled 757 00:51:12,500 --> 00:51:15,000 without a reconcile. God's use of pain. 758 00:51:16,300 --> 00:51:20,800 It feels like Injustice. It doesn't feel like Mercy feels 759 00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:24,700 like the opposite. But what we find is that through 760 00:51:24,700 --> 00:51:30,800 in Jesus Christ, all of our pain is used as transformation into 761 00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:35,500 life and Paul makes this explicit in Romans chapter 5 in 762 00:51:35,500 --> 00:51:37,300 Romans chapter 5. That should don't know if it'll 763 00:51:37,300 --> 00:51:40,400 be up on the screen but Romans chapter 5 verses 3 to 5, oh, 764 00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:44,700 there it is, not only that, but listen to this, we rejoice in 765 00:51:44,700 --> 00:51:49,600 our sufferings why We know that suffering produces endurance and 766 00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:53,400 endurance, produces character and character produces hope. 767 00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:01,100 God's God's power and the perfect marriage of mercy and 768 00:52:01,100 --> 00:52:06,200 Justice are so beautiful that every ounce of suffering in your 769 00:52:06,200 --> 00:52:11,500 life, produces only good and life in you which is absolutely 770 00:52:11,500 --> 00:52:14,800 mind-boggling. We can't do that in prison 771 00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:17,200 systems and you would think that's like the most important 772 00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:19,200 place to do it. We can't do it. 773 00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:23,000 Yet, God does through the work of Jesus. 774 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:26,400 So that Paul could say that the sufferings and Romans chapter 8 775 00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:30,000 and verse 18, he says the sufferings of this present age 776 00:52:30,100 --> 00:52:32,600 are not worth comparing with the glory that is yet to be 777 00:52:32,600 --> 00:52:36,900 revealed. That our pain and our suffering, 778 00:52:37,200 --> 00:52:42,500 the experience of the pain of God's, justice of his discipline 779 00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:47,700 is for our good and we see this beautifully imaged in verse 13 780 00:52:48,700 --> 00:52:52,000 and verse 13. The very end look at look at 781 00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:54,300 what look at what is for these people. 782 00:52:55,200 --> 00:52:58,800 They shall graze meaning they have food to eat. 783 00:52:58,900 --> 00:53:02,900 They have provision They have life and then they're going to 784 00:53:02,900 --> 00:53:04,800 lie down and they're going to rest. 785 00:53:05,900 --> 00:53:11,300 They're going to be at peace safety, and None Shall make them 786 00:53:11,300 --> 00:53:15,400 afraid. The people of Israel went to 787 00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:18,600 Idols out of fear. This is why we go to Idols were 788 00:53:18,600 --> 00:53:21,500 afraid. I mean, we're afraid of being 789 00:53:21,500 --> 00:53:25,000 poor and destitute going hungry. It's why we build 401ks and work 790 00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,500 for retirement, right? It's what we do. 791 00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:31,800 We're afraid. And that produces anxiety. 792 00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:36,200 Relational dysfunction. And when you look at the 793 00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:39,800 sacrifices that the gods demanded of the people just 794 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:45,400 destroys life and Society. They get attempt to get a statue 795 00:53:45,400 --> 00:53:47,300 to care about your plight in life. 796 00:53:47,600 --> 00:53:50,700 Try to figure out a way, how can I, how can my bank account care 797 00:53:50,700 --> 00:53:57,000 for me? But now in God, they have 798 00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:01,300 abundance, they can be vulnerable and comfortable at 799 00:54:01,300 --> 00:54:06,100 the same time. Imagine that being vulnerable 800 00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:09,600 and comfortable enough to lie down and sleep. 801 00:54:11,300 --> 00:54:14,900 Without fear. God has delivered these people 802 00:54:14,900 --> 00:54:19,200 from The Tyranny and the false hopes of the idols, so they can 803 00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:22,400 rest. There's not just safety. 804 00:54:22,500 --> 00:54:25,700 Then in Jesus from God's judgment, there's safety in 805 00:54:25,700 --> 00:54:29,100 Jesus for all of life. For all of life. 806 00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:35,300 And the question for us is, where are we seeking to 807 00:54:35,300 --> 00:54:38,500 transcend our dependence upon God. 808 00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:42,100 We're in your life today, we're in your life. 809 00:54:43,400 --> 00:54:46,400 Over the last season. Are you seeking to transcend 810 00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:49,600 your dependence upon God? So you can have what you need 811 00:54:49,600 --> 00:54:53,100 and rest. I'll guarantee wherever that is. 812 00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:59,200 There is pain dysfunction and death in your life and only in 813 00:54:59,200 --> 00:55:03,000 Jesus. Only in Jesus, will you find the 814 00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:06,700 safety you need and God will be learn from this text and what 815 00:55:07,100 --> 00:55:11,300 the hard thing. I wish God used tacos and naps 816 00:55:11,300 --> 00:55:15,600 to teach me dependence upon him. Right? 817 00:55:16,100 --> 00:55:19,600 I want tacos and naps. That would be awesome if that 818 00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:23,500 was the pathway. Of God teaching. 819 00:55:23,500 --> 00:55:30,200 Me dependence. But in some weird wisdom of God, 820 00:55:30,200 --> 00:55:35,300 he knows that pain is the most effective path way and I don't 821 00:55:35,300 --> 00:55:39,100 know if it's because my head is so thick or my heart is so hard, 822 00:55:39,900 --> 00:55:43,500 but that's the pathway, it's so no, this wherever you are. 823 00:55:43,500 --> 00:55:50,900 Seeking, wherever you're seeking self-reliance above, dependence 824 00:55:50,900 --> 00:55:54,900 upon God, God is more committed than you will ever dream. 825 00:55:55,900 --> 00:56:00,100 At bringing whatever pain is necessary to cut your legs out 826 00:56:00,300 --> 00:56:03,200 and show you that Independence upon him. 827 00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:09,500 That is where life is for you. And that sounds scary, but in it 828 00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:13,400 is safety. And so we can rest in Jesus 829 00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:16,600 knowing that let's pray and ask him for help to do so Lord, we 830 00:56:16,600 --> 00:56:21,700 thank you for your word. And Lord. 831 00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:25,800 Yeah, I do wish that you use tacos and naps but you're a much 832 00:56:25,800 --> 00:56:32,000 wiser than me and I pray that you would even as I struggle 833 00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:36,000 with this is, It's a painful reality to Envision. 834 00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:39,000 I just pray that not only in me, but in the hearts of all of 835 00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:47,400 those here that they would, they would see that they would see 836 00:56:47,600 --> 00:56:52,200 the joy that there is and being disciplined and taught to depend 837 00:56:52,200 --> 00:56:56,600 up on you. Lord, the fight for joy in the 838 00:56:56,600 --> 00:57:00,300 Christian Life. It does include pain. 839 00:57:01,200 --> 00:57:05,500 We know that we pray that your spirit would help us to endure 840 00:57:05,500 --> 00:57:09,600 it with rejoicing knowing where it's leading us and we pray that 841 00:57:09,600 --> 00:57:12,400 you would give us Hearts to receive that. 842 00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:00,300 In Jesus, we brain Athens. It does include pain. 843 00:57:01,200 --> 00:57:05,500 We know that we pray that your spirit would help us to endure 844 00:57:05,500 --> 00:57:09,600 it with rejoicing knowing where it's leading us and we pray that 845 00:57:09,600 --> 00:57:12,400 you would give us Hearts to receive that. 846 00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:13,800 In Jesus, we brain Athens.