[0:00] If I could have you turn to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. If you are visiting, you're new.
[0:11] ! Welcome, just passing through. Welcome, my name is BK. I have the pleasure of serving as one of the pastors here. We've been in a sermon series on the story of the Bible for the last several months.
[0:23] And one of the main goals is so we can understand the overall context of the Old Testament. So when we're challenged to read it and study it, we can begin to have a proper context of where the books of the Bible fit in.
[0:39] One of the other goals that I've had for this is that we would not just see the Bible as a story written by God, but it was a story, the events occurred by the power of God as well.
[0:55] So God just did not write it by instilling the Holy Spirit in the authors who penned the letters, but he was the overall writer, the mover of the story as well.
[1:08] It's not an accident. It just didn't happen. Hey, this is really good. Let's write it down. The goal was God had a plan, and that plan was the redemption of mankind.
[1:20] And it all started because of Genesis 3. Adam and Eve in the garden made the wrong choice. They chose to sin, alienated themselves from God.
[1:35] So God enabled a rescue plan. In Genesis 3.15, he makes a promise to Adam and Eve, one will come after who will bruise the head of the serpent.
[1:50] This followed with a promise to Abraham that you will be the father of my people, and from my people, the one who will redeem all mankind will come out of.
[2:05] If you've been with us, I'm kind of working from a framework designed by Matthew 1.17, which divides the Old Testament into three sections. You've heard this before, but the first section begins in Genesis 12, and it goes all the way to 1 Kings 10.
[2:23] And that is God building that nation. That's where we meet Abraham. We meet Moses. We meet King David. And within that structure, he creates these covenants and promises with them.
[2:37] Sadly, the second part of our Acts 2 of our Bible in the Old Testament begins in 1 Kings 11, when Solomon, who reigned over God's wonderful gift of a nation, a temple, and a people, chose to marry foreign wives and to pursue false gods.
[3:02] Till a point when God said enough in 593 B.C., God raised up Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom of Babylon, to overtake Israel.
[3:17] So that great palace that Solomon sat in, that the queen of Sheba, said, this wonder is even more than I could have imagined. Nebuchadnezzar entirely wiped out.
[3:31] Temple, gone. Palace, gone. Walls around Jerusalem, gone. And as for God's people, 200 years previously, Assyria scattered 10 of the tribes, and now we have this kingdom of Judah left.
[3:48] And thus begins Act 3. It's the exile in Babylon to God's ultimate redemption, which is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
[4:01] That is what we're going to cover today. Last week, I asked a very simple question. And this is bringing the application to home.
[4:11] I think many of us do know and understand, but the question is, have you ever felt exiled from God? Have you felt at any time in your life that God was not there?
[4:25] The God that you depended on are now starting to ask, are you there, God? Perhaps you asked this question because your life plan wasn't working the way you wanted it to.
[4:38] Maybe it started because you made some bad decisions or perhaps even foolish decisions, or perhaps you made from some sinful, rebellious decisions, and it was now costing you in your life now.
[4:57] Or perhaps you were the one that was affected by someone who made some bad, foolish, rebellious decisions in their lives, and it now affects you.
[5:14] Perhaps you've lost a spouse. You've lost the trust of your children. You're alienated from those you know and love. And you wonder and you ask the question, God, will you restore me?
[5:28] God, will you ever hear me again? God, are you there? Can anybody relate to that? Or am I the only one?
[5:42] This sermon concludes from where last sermons began is that even in Israel's darkest times, God was always there.
[5:53] God was always faithful. In fact, the judgment that occurred to Judah was because God was good to his word.
[6:06] God told them, if you continue to pursue these false gods, I will pull my blessings from you. God was true to his word, but we see this grace that God offers in a prophecy given to the prophet Jeremiah that says that will only occur for 70 years.
[6:29] You will incur this judgment. So that was the first moment where we see that there is indeed judgment, but God's hand of grace is in that judgment.
[6:41] While the people were in exile, Jeremiah actually from the ruins of the city says, great is our God and he is faithful.
[6:54] That when even those named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fire because they refused to bow down to the false idol of the false God, God didn't deliver them from the furnace, but God appeared with them in the furnace.
[7:14] And the lesson we learned is that God walks with us in our trials. He doesn't abandon us, even though we might be living the consequences of our sin or foolish and bad decisions, God still is with us.
[7:31] And the last moment we saw is that Ezra chapter one begins by stating that God moved the heart of Cyrus to release God's people so that they may return to their land.
[7:50] It said the Lord stirred the heart of the king to allow the Jews to return to their homeland 70 years after they were removed.
[8:02] So in those three instances, we see that God is faithful. So this morning, I'm going to look at the final three moments in the life of Israel so that we may see that God remains faithful even in the midst of our life disasters.
[8:23] When you look at the story of Israel, one of the most interesting aspects of Israel's history, previous to their exile, their struggle was always compromise.
[8:38] They were supposed to get rid of all foreign gods, and they could never quite do that. There was always a people group that they left behind, or they intermarried, and it just always brought in these idols which polluted their hearts.
[8:59] God finally judged them. If you want to really worship false gods, I'm going to show you what it's really like. And he put them under a false god in Babylon. You flirted with them.
[9:11] Now you're going to have them. But what's interesting is that when God's people return to the promised land, they seem to be cured of that.
[9:25] There is no worship of any other false god. But what it instituted was another challenge, and that is called cold, dead religion.
[9:41] You see that God had purged their idolatry and exile. But now this new kind of corruption, which is self-righteousness, begins to appear on the scene.
[9:53] If you read the Gospels of the New Testament, we understand the idea of the Pharisees. But it's during that time where the Pharisees come to the forefront of Israel's life.
[10:09] So although Israel did not have pagan altars, they had no carved image, they were given over to a cold-hearted religion, a performance-driven religion where outward obedience was of such importance that inward decay did not matter.
[10:31] So even though when they came home, they built altars, they rebuilt the temple, they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, all was not good. This teaches us this hard truth that coming back from exile does not always mean we're good with God.
[10:48] The reality is we can rebuild the altar. We can restore the temple. We can have the ceremonies and festival and still have a heart that is far from God.
[11:01] And in fact, that's exactly what happened to Israel in the years after Ezra and Nehemiah. When they got back to the land, they loved their religion, but they did not love God.
[11:15] They were offering sacrifices, but with stale hearts. They were showing up to all the religious festivals, but they were not surrendering to God.
[11:27] See, this reminds us that even though we can be religious, it does not mean that we can't be rebellious.
[11:40] What's interesting is that, as I said, God had burned away their thirst for foreign gods, but the prophet Malachi, Malachi 1, 6, 10, tells us that God asked the question, where is my honor?
[11:54] You bring blind animals for sacrifice. You offer what is lame or sick. Remember, when it came to the sacrifice, we were supposed to give the best of our best, but people are given the worst of their worst, whatever is left over.
[12:14] At least I'm sacrificing God. Is that not enough? What's interesting, God is literally saying, I'd rather you shut down this fake type of worship than keep going through these empty motions.
[12:29] Why? Because the fact of the matter is, God doesn't want our rituals. God doesn't want our religion. God wants repentance.
[12:41] God doesn't want noise. He wants our hearts. Isaiah 29, 13 reads, this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
[12:54] Jesus would go on to quote this very same verse. It's like Israel could not get away from the religiosity of their faith.
[13:07] Zechariah 7, verse 5, one of the prophets come, God asks, was it for me that you fasted or just for yourselves? Let that question sit with you.
[13:24] Was it for me? Do you come here this morning for you? Or do you come here this morning for God?
[13:36] See, this becomes the root of spiritual formalism, doing spiritual things for self-serving reasons.
[13:52] If you come to church to feel better, to look good, to meet expectations, to stay in control, may I suggest that you have missed the point of gathering here together with us?
[14:11] See, the fact is, God is never impressed with our religious performance. God has always desired our transformed hearts. See, this is, that's what this entire drift reveals.
[14:27] These people had the temple, they had the priesthood, they had the festivals, but they lost the wonder, the fear and the awe of God. So when we read this text and you're trying to understand the prophets who are writing to these people, now that they're back home, this is what these prophets were trying to bring God's hearts, God's people's hearts back to.
[14:55] When you read Malachi and Zechariah, that's the purpose of these prophetic letters. Malachi 3 says, God promises a messenger who will come and purify the people like a refiner's fire.
[15:09] And the question is why? Because even their priesthood had become polluted. Their sacrifices had become routine. Their worship was cheap.
[15:22] And their devotion was skin deep. Now the message for the believer is quite clear. Could there be another truth that huts us more home now?
[15:38] This wasn't a then problem, this is a now problem. The reality is some of us aren't in exile. We're in the church.
[15:49] We're in leadership. Perhaps we even serve in ministry. But our hearts have drifted into what we call spiritual autopilot. We know the songs.
[16:01] We know the service. We read the chapters. But our hearts are flat. They're dry. They're dry. They're dry. They're dry. They're detached. The biggest mistake we can make is to believe that God doesn't see it.
[16:22] It's to believe that God isn't interested in our emotions. But the fact is God always wants our heart. So in Malachi 3.3, what do we do?
[16:36] We actually ask God to refine us as silver. God, bring us those moments in life that put that purifying pressure on us so we may see and reclaim that wonder in awe of God that we have lost.
[16:55] So if you've been drifting into ritualism, ask God to refine you. Pray, God, burn it away.
[17:08] Burn away my empty worship. God, confront my fake devotion. God, restore my fear of you.
[17:21] Because formalism may look clean, but it's dead. And the fact of the matter is, the Spirit of God does not dwell in dead religion. The Spirit of God dwells in a surrendered heart.
[17:36] My warning to you this morning is, don't wait for the crisis to shake you awake. Respond now. Respond fully. Tear down your altar to performance and rebuild your altar to his presence.
[17:49] For those of you who might say, I'm unsure of my faith, I am not a believer, let me tell you something that may surprise you.
[18:03] Like I've said, God doesn't want your religion. The fact is, God is not calling you to join a system. God is not asking you here so that you can be more moral.
[18:15] He's not asking or looking for rule keepers. The fact is, Jesus Christ is looking for you to surrender your life to him.
[18:27] The fact is, you can be baptized, church attending, Bible quoting, and still be dead in sin. The Pharisees were the most religious people in Israel, and Jesus called them whitewashed tombs.
[18:45] See, the fact is, religion won't save you. Religion, ritual won't save you. Even believing that God or Jesus Christ was a really great guy won't save you.
[18:59] The fact is, only Jesus saves. You don't need a new tradition, you need a new heart. And Christ came not to add more rules, but to bring real redemption.
[19:17] Jesus Christ did not come to polish your outside, but to renew your life on the inside. So my call to you this morning is to come to him.
[19:30] Repent of both your sin and your self-righteousness. Fall on his grace, not on your record. Because the God who confronted spiritual formalism in Malachi is the same God who rules today, not to ritual, but to relationship.
[19:54] So the fifth event, or the moment in Israel's history, is that God knew from the very start that God needed to change the hearts.
[20:06] That's why Jeremiah 31 is so important. By the time we get to Jeremiah 31, we can stop asking the question, is the old system going to save us?
[20:19] Is the Mosaic covenant, if we do the laws, we practice the Ten Commandments and the 600 plus other laws, will that save us?
[20:30] Israel has answered throughout their history, no, no, and more no. Yes, God gave the law, God gave the temple, God gave the priests and the sacrifices, but here is the thing.
[20:44] None of it was possible to change someone's heart. And that's always been our problem, has it not? We can do all these religious things, but it doesn't change us on the inside.
[20:56] And here's the punchline. God always knew it. In fact, that's why through the prophet Jeremiah and the passage that David read this morning, right in the middle of judgment, right in the middle of exile, God drops a promise that changes everything.
[21:13] Jeremiah 31, 31 reads, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. This was big.
[21:25] This is the pivot. This is the hinge. This is the real plan. This was the promise behind every other promise. You see, God just wasn't going to fix the externals.
[21:38] God wasn't going to duct tape the old system. I'm going to create a new way for you to obey the Mosaic law. I'm going to create a new covenant, not renew the old covenant.
[21:51] You with me on that one? This is something new. This isn't like a new used car, new to you. This is new. The new covenant is God's answer to our heart problem.
[22:07] The new covenant is the way. Because the old covenant could tell you what to do, but it could never make us love God.
[22:19] The old covenant, it could demand righteousness, but it couldn't create righteousness in us. And the biggest problem with the law is it can convict us of our sins, but it can never cleanse our souls.
[22:34] So that's why God continues in Jeremiah 31, I will make a new covenant, not like the one I made with your fathers, my covenant that they broke.
[22:49] I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.
[23:00] Notice, I will, I will. This is a work that God alone does. That's not external obedience.
[23:12] It's internal transformation. There's no more tablets of stone upon which the laws are written on. The law is now engraven upon our hearts.
[23:25] The law does not pressure us from the outside. Now it becomes from an inside desire to follow Jesus. Ezekiel 36, another prophet during that time, verse 26, picks up the same promise.
[23:42] He says, I will give you a new heart, and I will put my spirit within you. You see, that's the new covenant, a new heart, a new spirit, a new power to walk in God's ways.
[23:58] This is God saying, I'm going to do what you could never do for yourselves. So no more sacrificial system, no more priesthood middlemen, no more law without life.
[24:11] The new covenant is not about trying harder. It's about being made new. It isn't about human effort.
[24:24] It's about a divine empowerment. It's not moral improvement. It's spiritual rebirth. Now what's incredible about this promise that Jeremiah gives us in verse 31 is he promised this while his people are still in judgment.
[24:47] He makes this promise when the temple is gone. They're in exile in Babylon when they're guilty. And why is this so significant? It tells us that grace was the plan all along, that God's story was not plan B.
[25:07] It wasn't an emergency recovery, but as the final chapter, God has always been writing toward. Verse 34, Jeremiah 31, They shall all know me, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
[25:33] I will, I will, I will, I will. Have any of you ever known God to lie? Let that sink in.
[25:47] I will remember their sin no more. This, my friends, is called covenant mercy. It is called a full pardon.
[26:02] It is called permanent forgiveness. This is what leads to a real relationship with Jesus Christ. For us as believers, this is the foundation of our entire walk with God, is it not?
[26:16] We're not under law anymore. We're under grace. We're not trying to earn our way in. We've been bought, we've been brought in by the blood of the covenant.
[26:29] Hebrews 8, 6 says, Christ is the mediator of a better covenant based on better promises. And if you know the book of Hebrews, the people were starting to doubt God, and they wanted to go back to the old law.
[26:42] They wanted to go back to the Mosaic law. What are you thinking, you morons? Christ is the better mediator.
[26:55] Stop living like you're still under the old one. Who's been there? We know it affects our thoughts. Stop serving to impress God.
[27:07] Stop performing to keep his favor. Stop thinking God is watching you with a clipboard, counting all your sins and errors. If there is no one who can relate to that, there's got to be someone somewhere else that does.
[27:24] The fact of the matter is, God has written his law in your heart. The fact of the matter is, God has filled you with his spirit. And the fact of the matter is, God has bound you to his blood.
[27:38] That's the new covenant. That's the confidence. That's why we obey. Not to earn, but because God owns us. Amen? We're his. So walk in it.
[27:51] Worship from it. Obey through it. Rest in it. For those of you who are here that do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, let me make this plain.
[28:04] Religion will not save you. Trying harder will not save you. Keeping all the laws will not save you.
[28:17] That guilt-driven effort that you might have to do something wonderful, until it won't save you. The fact is, you need a new heart.
[28:31] You need forgiveness. You need Jesus. You see, Jesus Christ is the mediator of this new covenant. He is the lamb who shed his blood to ratify this covenant.
[28:46] He's the only one who can bring you into it. But here's the thing. You don't earn your way into the covenant. You don't say, I'm going to clean myself off to make me worthwhile to God, so he will save me.
[29:01] You go in as dirty as you are, and he cleans you. You go in as dirty as you are, so my encouragement to you this morning is come.
[29:16] Today, the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, offers you far more than religion, my friends. He's offering you redemption.
[29:28] He offers you a relationship. And he's offering to remember your sin no more. That is what it is to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
[29:48] And how do I know this is true? Well, this brings me to the final moment of Israel's history in the final scene of the final act of the Old Testament.
[30:03] It is called the birth of Jesus Christ, which is the fulfillment of God's promises and mercy. You see, the birth of Jesus Christ comes after 400 years of silence.
[30:19] During that time, 400 years, there was no prophets. There were no new revelations. There was no miracles in the land. The world kept moving along.
[30:31] And then finally, the sky opens. And a baby is born. See, the fact of the matter is, Jesus wasn't a symbol.
[30:44] Jesus wasn't an idea. Jesus is not a myth. But this was a real event in history.
[30:54] It took place in a real city, in a real country, in real time, to real parents, who had real concerns of life.
[31:08] And it was a real birth. What this is called is, this is called the covenant mercy made visible. This is called faithfulness in the flesh.
[31:19] This is called God keeping his word. All through the Old Testament, God is making promises after promises, after promises, after promises.
[31:33] And the fact of the matter is, Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1, 20, writes, for all the promises of God, find their yes in Jesus.
[31:48] From Genesis to Malachi, the covenant thread runs through every single page. It began with the seed of the woman, the offspring of Abraham, the son of David, the suffering servant, and the now coming king.
[32:04] And in one night, in one town, in one manger, it all becomes reality. God stepped in. God came down. God fulfilled it all in the person of Jesus Christ.
[32:19] Now let's talk about this moment for a second. It's interesting. In Luke 1, 68, Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, he praises God because he has visited and redeemed his people.
[32:39] He stated that God was showing mercy to the fathers, that God was remembering the covenant, that God was fulfilling his oath to Abraham.
[32:51] Jesus wasn't random. Jesus wasn't accidental. Jesus was purposeful. As the whole story in the Old Testament is purposeful, thus is Jesus.
[33:06] This was a prophecy kept. This was redemption activated. And ultimately, this is mercy delivered. The truth is, the birth of Jesus is the final proof that God keeps every promise he makes.
[33:25] Matthew 1, 21, it says, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
[33:36] One author on the subject says, that's not poetry. That's precision. That's not religious fluff. That's surgical theology.
[33:49] Jesus didn't come to set an example. Jesus didn't come to start a religion. Jesus didn't come to inspire good behavior.
[34:01] Jesus came to save. Save us from what? Our poverty? Our oppression? The Jews' Roman rule?
[34:12] No. No. No. He came to save us from our sin. And how did he do that?
[34:24] Well, first, by becoming one of us. Matthew 1, 23, Matthew continues, they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.
[34:39] Notice it doesn't say God near us. It doesn't say that is God watching us. No, it says God with us.
[34:52] God among us. God in our skin. God breathing our air. God walking on our roads.
[35:05] God bearing our shame. John 1, 14 says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[35:15] That word dwelt literally means tabernacled. That God pitched his tent in our midst.
[35:28] Do you get the significance of that? God didn't stay distant. God entered our story. In the birth of Jesus, it is the final declaration of God's covenant commitment.
[35:48] God came all the way to save us. He didn't come halfway. He fully entered in, so he could fully redeem. Jesus didn't come to patch up the old religion.
[36:02] Jesus came to fulfill it. He is the temple. He is the sacrifice. He is the priest. He is the covenant. He is the mercy seat. He is the king.
[36:15] What's interesting is, when they came back from exile, and they rebuilt the temple, the text does not say that the glory ever filled the temple. It was an empty building.
[36:30] The day that Jesus Christ returned to the temple, we read in Matthew 22, and Luke, and John and Mark all record it.
[36:42] So remember when he came into the temple, and he threw over the money merchants, and he threw them all out, and the text says he taught in the temple for about 24 hours, the glory returned to the temple the same week that Jesus crucified.
[37:03] If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you need to get this truth deep in your soul.
[37:17] If you're wondering if you are exiled, and you have been struggling with your life, perhaps it's due to your sin, or someone else's sin against you, there's something you need to understand.
[37:30] If God kept his biggest promise to send Christ, then he will keep every other promise that he ever made. The fact of the matter is, Jesus promised to be with you.
[37:44] He will. Jesus Christ promised to finish what he started. He will. And that finish is growing us into maturity in Christ.
[37:54] Guess what? He's going to do it. You may persist. You may lag. You may be busy. And God's going to take you through a series of trials. And he is going to break you because God loves you, and he wants you mature.
[38:09] So for some of you, you've been living this life, and it's a grind every single day. Maybe it's because you're holding back what God rightfully deserves.
[38:22] You've been trying to live this life by my own rules. rules. But God says, I want all of you. Even though you try to parcel something over for yourself, God claims it all.
[38:38] Notice, the last, that God is king. Amen? Hebrews 10.23 says, He who promised is faithful.
[38:48] And I read this great saying. How do we know this is true? The manger is your evidence, the cross is your guarantee, and the empty tomb is your future.
[39:02] Live like God keeps his promises because he does. I'm going to tell you right now, one of the reasons why the Christian church has such a pathetic witness in some areas of our lives is because we fail to live like God keeps his promises.
[39:22] So stop doubting. Stop fearing. Stop dragging around guilt and shame and fear that God's going to somehow drop you. The reality is, we've been reading, God didn't drop Israel.
[39:36] God didn't abandon the covenant. He sent Jesus Christ. And we learn for that, that God will not fail you. Let his name be your strength.
[39:52] As always, for those of you who do not call Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, this is it. This is the final call.
[40:07] It's the open invitation. Do you know that Jesus was born for you? Do you know that Jesus wasn't born for a religion, wasn't born to start a tradition, not for a holiday, but you personally?
[40:29] You have a name. God knows it. You're just a face in the crowd to me. But God knows you intimately. He created you. Genesis records that when he created us, Adam and Eve, he created us with a purpose.
[40:48] You see, God didn't send a religious system to save you. God sent his only son to save you. God came all the way so you could come all the way home.
[41:01] You say, but I've sinned too much. Well, that's why Jesus came. You say, I've wandered too far.
[41:11] I kind of knew the truth, but I abandoned it. Well, that's why Jesus came. You may say, I don't deserve this gift of eternal life.
[41:21] Here's the fact. None of us do. This is why it's called mercy. It's called grace. It's called the gospel, which is the good news.
[41:33] You see, and it can be yours if you'll receive it. What that means is you have to respond. You have to believe.
[41:45] You have to surrender. I'm telling you right now, this might be the last day that you hear these words. Not tomorrow, not someday, but today.
[41:58] Romans 10, 9 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
[42:12] That's a promise. And if there's anything we've learned over these last 15 sermons dealing with the Old Testament, God always answers his promises.
[42:29] Let me conclude. During our time, looking back at these 15 sermons and the story of the Bible, one thing we know for certain is that God never failed.
[42:46] Not once. There was not one thing God couldn't do. Not one word of his promises fell to the ground. Not one prophecy went unfulfilled.
[42:59] Not one covenant was forgotten. Because God, our God, is a covenant-keeping, mercy-extending, sin-redeeming, promise-keeping God.
[43:12] That is who he is. And that is the story of the Old Testament, my friends. God judged, but he preserved.
[43:24] He scattered, then he regathered. He went silent, but he was still sovereign. And then finally, he sent his son because he said he would.
[43:38] Let me say it plain. God turns destruction into deliverance. God turns destruction into deliverance.
[43:51] He always has, and he still does. And the fact is, this isn't history. It's an invitation for us to enter into his world.
[44:04] For the believer, if you're in ruins, the Lord can rebuild you. If you're in exile, he can walk with you.
[44:17] If you're waiting, know that he is still working. If you're doubting, look again at the manger and remember, God always keeps his word.
[44:31] Romans 8, 39 reminds us, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That's called a covenant love.
[44:43] That's a promise-keeping mercy. So, stand firm, worship hard, trust deep, and rest well.
[44:54] God has never failed, and he's not about to start now. For the unsaved, I say you've seen it, you've heard it, now you've got a choice to make.
[45:07] You can stay in destruction, or you can enter into deliverance. The God who redeemed a nation is actually offering to redeem you.
[45:19] The God who brought captives home is actually offering you freedom. that slavery to sin, that desire to be noticed, that desire to be loved.
[45:31] God can free you of that so that you can know the full love of Jesus Christ. The God who fulfilled every promise in Christ is today offering you eternal life through his son.
[45:44] But like I said, you have to come. You have to confess your sin. You have to trust in Jesus Christ alone. You have to say, Jesus, save me.
[45:59] And if you do, he will save you. Not maybe, not possibly, he will because he said he would.
[46:12] my greatest fear is that you'll walk away from this message thinking this is just some historical invitation. The fact of the matter is the Old Testament is a holy invitation.
[46:26] It's the line in the sand. One side is destruction, the other side is deliverance. Jesus is the way. I ask that you would take it now.
[46:39] Let us pray. Dear Lord, holy, heavenly Father, you've, we've heard your word. We've heard this message.
[46:52] Father, I pray that it rejuvenates our hearts. Lord, it is so easy to fall into the trap of the religious system that we are even saved by how much we understand our theology or how much we judge our goodness by our works.
[47:12] The fact of the matter is we're called to love you. Father, I ask that you would shake some of us who are still.
[47:27] Move us, some of us who become so rooted in our sin that we fear that we cannot move anymore. We fear the shame of our past.
[47:42] Others feel shame because we've been left behind. Perhaps it's a divorce in our family or a separation over an argument with our friends and loved ones.
[47:54] It matters not. God. You are the same God to each and every one of us and if this sermon series has demonstrated anything is that you are good to your promise.
[48:11] Speaking of commands and promises of Father, we now come to this communion table. You said you're coming back and until that time you asked us to meet to be united around this table.
[48:25] to break bread and take this wine as symbols that we believe you are going to fulfill that promise that you are coming back to return to make all things right.
[48:47] So for those who come before this table oh Lord I pray that they are redeemed you can't take what is meant to remember your promises if you are not bound to him in your faith.
[49:06] Father, perhaps this will be the first time someone will ever have communion because they have come to saving faith this day.
[49:17] Father, I pray that we would take this time to confess our sins. We know that you remember them no more but we continue to work on our relationship with you.
[49:35] We come to you with love and expectation and expectation that you will never turn us away, that you are always there, and that you are a covenant keeping God.
[49:50] So Father, I ask that you would bless us as we take this communion and that we as believers in Christ would be even more united with you through this obedient act.
[50:03] An act that we desire to do because you have called us to it. So I ask these things in your most holy and powerful name God's people said Amen.