WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.120 So, Vicki read this evening from Nehemiah chapter 8 and we're going to look at that 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:09.240 chapter a little bit for a few minutes this evening. 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:10.519 It's a one-off sermon. 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:17.120 We're hoping to start a new series next week in the morning on the parables in Luke and 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:22.640 then on the evening from the pictures in Ezekiel. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:25.280 So that'll be good. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:29.480 And Thomas is leading us off in the evening next week. 00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:38.000 But I think one of the challenges we face, all of us face in life is routine and doing 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:44.359 things all the time, sameness, and then maybe becoming stale because we do things all the 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:52.000 time and they become routine to us, whether it's marriage or friendships or work or faith 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:53.000 or church. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:59.240 You know, this is your routine for a lot of you, coming to church and you come every week. 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:06.680 And I think more than just coming to church, but spiritually we can, in our work with God, 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:12.120 we can become very routine and very much in our rut, in our work. 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:18.480 Sometimes cozy in that rut, sometimes we feel safe in that rut but desperately dull, maybe 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:20.319 at the same time. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:23.599 And there's lots of different reasons for that. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:26.079 Some of them are very practical. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:33.319 But even spiritually I think we need to be aware of the potential danger of becoming 00:01:33.319 --> 00:01:39.079 bored in the routine of our Christian lives. 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:44.599 I think like all things, routine and change, if you take the opposite of routine, change, 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:47.000 can be good and bad. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.319 So there's a degree of paradox within it. 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:57.239 So you know, your love of routine, well, routine can be a good thing. 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:02.079 Your love of routine can be because you're sinfully, and because I'm sinfully lazy, or 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:08.199 because we lack faith to move out of our comfort zone and work cowardly. 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:12.159 And we forget that the gospel, you know, while we stay here, I'm the same, I'm always going 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:13.159 to be the same. 00:02:13.159 --> 00:02:20.280 The gospel is about transformation and about renewal and about becoming new creations. 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:22.840 So there's two sides to that. 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:27.120 But equally the longing for change can be the same. 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:32.599 You know, change, you know, spiritual change can be a great thing in renewal and transformation. 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:39.079 But our longing for change in our life, spiritually, can be all about dissatisfaction. 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:44.040 It can be itching and looking for fulfillment in the wrong places, needing excitement all 00:02:44.040 --> 00:02:50.080 the time, not working through challenges, but just lurching away from them, running 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.840 away from them, not facing up to them, and needing a new situation, a new people, a new 00:02:54.840 --> 00:03:02.840 everything else in our lives, forgetting that perseverance, patience, time, routine and 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:09.040 habits can be really good, godly things as well. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:14.959 So there's good and bad in both things. 00:03:14.959 --> 00:03:22.759 And in this passage in Nehemiah, the people of God had been taken into promised land, 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:28.719 if you remember, they'd been freed from slavery in Egypt, been taken to the promised land. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:34.519 And then they had become captives in Babylon as a judgment from God because they'd gone 00:03:34.519 --> 00:03:35.519 on to worship idols. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:40.560 They hadn't worshiped God, but they had repeatedly ignored the prophets who had sent to remind 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:45.400 them that God was the only God and they worshiped idols. 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:48.760 And they had been warned they were then taken into captivity. 00:03:48.760 --> 00:03:54.360 And 70 years later, they were released from captivity and they came back to Jerusalem, 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:59.560 to the promised land, and Ezra and Nehemiah were the prophets at the time. 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:06.039 And this chapter is the beginning of a different section of the book of Nehemiah. 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:10.520 And the first section is all about the rebuilding of the wall in Jerusalem, where they all came 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:15.640 back to the city that they loved the city of God and they rebuilt the wall and the people 00:04:15.640 --> 00:04:23.360 were chosen to live in the city and it was all new, you know, and the people were settled 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:30.800 and the danger in a sense was them settling into something different. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:35.240 All the tough groundwork for the rebuilding of the city had been done and they could now, 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:40.480 as it were, settle down in their homes, in their new homes, in peace, back in the promised 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:44.759 land and everything would be okay again. 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:51.240 And yet God wasn't content to leave them just physically back in the promised land with 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:55.560 rebuilt houses and a rebuilt rampart and walls. 00:04:55.560 --> 00:05:00.879 Something much deeper was needed in their lives and that was a heart renewal. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:04.319 And this chapter is all about a spiritual heart renewal. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:08.639 There's a city renewal, they're back in the promised land, but this is much more than 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:10.199 something geographical. 00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:12.960 It's a spiritual renewal in a sense. 00:05:12.960 --> 00:05:15.720 I think it's a glimpse into the future. 00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:19.240 It's a glimpse into the New Testament and into the spirit of God being poured out on 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:20.340 all people. 00:05:20.339 --> 00:05:25.519 This was very rare in the Old Testament, very rare to see this kind of worship that was read 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:30.479 in the chapter and the spiritual revival that went on during that time among all the people, 00:05:30.479 --> 00:05:31.479 very rare. 00:05:31.479 --> 00:05:36.799 As prophesied in Joel 2.28 where God would change all the people's hearts from stone 00:05:36.799 --> 00:05:40.199 and make them hearts of flesh. 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:45.120 But this is really kind of a foretaste of what would come through Jesus Christ. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:50.319 So the structures of the city, the structures of the town, the structures of the new homes, 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:55.000 needed God's breath, needed spiritual revival. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:00.079 More than anything, what God wanted to remind the people here was they needed Him and they 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:06.199 needed Him in their lives, not just the routine of being in a new city, a new way of life 00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:09.319 with new homes. 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:15.519 And to parallel that, we can work a great deal on the structure of our lives, you know, 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:19.719 the relationships, the careers, the homes that we have. 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:25.520 But all of us, what we need most is to nurture our hearts. 00:06:25.520 --> 00:06:31.560 In a sense that's very much the message that comes through from this chapter is that we 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:38.320 need to know God and we need to work at that particular routine as it were in our lives. 00:06:38.320 --> 00:06:44.000 And interestingly, it can be the area that we neglect most. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.800 And all the things that are going on, all the developments and all the work and all 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:52.879 the structure and all the building of our lives, we can leave God out at the very heart 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:54.960 and at the very core. 00:06:54.960 --> 00:07:01.040 And what this chapter is reminding us is of the need, the people of God had a great need 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:04.879 for a gracious encounter with God in their lives. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:10.800 And through His prayer, through prayer and His word, interestingly, nothing dramatic, 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:15.600 nothing that isn't accessible, in fact, it's much more accessible to us as New Testament 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:21.360 believers, but it was a great encounter with the living God. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:27.040 So what happened in this chapter is Ezra reads the law to them. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:32.439 That is their Bible, the Bible they had, the early books of Moses, the first five or maybe 00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:36.160 a few more books of the Old Testament. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:41.200 He reads that for six hours and they're standing. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:46.479 You're comfortable in your seats and you'll be looking at your watch if I go past the 00:07:46.479 --> 00:07:48.479 half hour, you come on. 00:07:48.479 --> 00:07:52.360 I know you will because I do. 00:07:52.360 --> 00:07:56.399 But they were wrapped for six hours standing. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:02.800 It's remarkable, remarkable revelation of God that God spoke through His word and the 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:04.000 Holy Spirit was with them. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:05.000 What did it look like? 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:06.519 What did it look like for them? 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:10.639 Well, the word was living and powerful. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:17.919 You know, we read that in verses three to eight, you know, that they stood and they listened 00:08:17.919 --> 00:08:21.839 powerfully to what was being read. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.039 It was read clearly to them. 00:08:24.039 --> 00:08:28.360 The word of God became real and meaningful in a new way. 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:32.080 It was treated with great reverence. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:37.279 Verse five, Ezra opened the book of the law and if he was above the people and as he opened 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:39.360 it all the people stood. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:41.200 It provoked worship. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:47.000 In verse six, Thomas read this verse this morning, Ezra blessed the Lord, the great 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:49.240 God and all the people answered, Amen, amen. 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:51.279 It means a lot more to you now tonight, doesn't it? 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:56.039 Than they did this morning because you know all the depth of meaning in amen. 00:08:56.039 --> 00:09:00.159 They lifted up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:04.240 And it was explained and it was made clear to them as well. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:08.279 He told that in verse eight that they read from the book of the law clearly and they 00:09:08.279 --> 00:09:11.799 gave the meaning so that the people understood the reading. 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:16.319 So it wasn't just read, it was preached, it was taught, it was explained, it was made 00:09:16.319 --> 00:09:22.720 understandable to them and they could see the relevance of that and it was transformative 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:23.720 in their lives. 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:26.720 The word was living and powerful. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:32.079 And verses nine to 11, we see that it touched their hearts as the word was read and they 00:09:32.079 --> 00:09:38.240 stood, they mourned and they grieved and they wept and then they celebrated and rejoiced. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:43.240 So we go through the whole range of emotions because there's this remarkable picture of 00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:45.879 renewal happening as they read the word. 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:52.279 In other words, as the word was read, it was much more than just knowledge to them. 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:58.440 It was much more than just the taking in of information and facts. 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:04.919 They were seeing who God was and they sensed their unworthiness and failure as his character 00:10:04.919 --> 00:10:07.919 was opened up to them and revealed to them. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:10.719 His love and his grace became clear. 00:10:10.719 --> 00:10:15.399 They recognized his purity and perfection and begun to remember all that he had done 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:17.319 for them as a people. 00:10:17.319 --> 00:10:24.639 And it was emotion at either end of the scale for them, mourning and weeping. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:30.799 But they were commanded to take that mourning and weeping and change it into rejoicing and 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:35.480 eating and drinking and celebration because God was their strength. 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:41.920 So it was a remarkable recognition reminder to them that God was their rescuer. 00:10:41.920 --> 00:10:46.960 Remember, they would have read about this, how God redeemed them out of Egypt and took 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.360 them into the promised land and the land flowing with milk and honey. 00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:56.120 And they realized that this was their God, the one they were redeemed to love and to 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:57.120 serve. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:02.120 The giver of all the great gifts of freedom that they had taken and abused and ignored 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:07.879 and destroyed and then turned and worshiped wooden idols made of, or idols made of wooden 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:13.440 stone and they recognized the folly of that. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:21.679 And rather than staying under his lordship, they returned to slavery in Babylon because 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:25.080 of their disobedience. 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:29.279 And now they return and God's forgiveness and God's grace. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:30.279 So there was to be a feast. 00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:31.279 There was to be a party. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:33.639 There was to be a celebration. 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:37.839 So the word was really powerful and it touched their hearts. 00:11:37.839 --> 00:11:39.720 It touched all of their life. 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:41.720 And there was then a new obedience. 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:48.439 The last section of the chapter from verse 13 on says that as they read the law, they 00:11:48.439 --> 00:11:54.199 recognized and they studied and they found there that there was to be a feast to be enjoyed 00:11:54.199 --> 00:11:57.199 and participated in. 00:11:57.199 --> 00:12:00.759 And they obeyed that command from God. 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:02.240 There was new obedience. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:07.240 They relearned about this great feast of booths that's spoken about here. 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:11.919 And it was something that they were to participate in altogether. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:13.840 And they did so. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:19.360 It was to be a feast that was to remember they're being taken out of slavery and their journey 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.279 into the promised land which took 40 years. 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:27.240 And it was to be a seven day feast and they were to leave their homes they just made, 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:34.200 leave their homes they just built and they were to live in booths or kind of manmade tents, 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:36.480 things that they just built themselves. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:41.240 And they were to worship and to celebrate and to eat and to drink together and to remember 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:44.399 what God had done for seven days. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:49.080 That's what they were to do, to remember God's rescue from slavery. 00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:51.360 It required effort. 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:56.480 They had to get out of routine. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:58.840 That was the thing, you see, they had to get out of routine. 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:01.480 They had to spend time together and fellowship with one another. 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:04.800 They had to build these booths and then they were eating and drinking and worshiping and 00:13:04.800 --> 00:13:06.519 resting. 00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:11.920 And we learned that it was a time of unparalleled joy for them. 00:13:11.920 --> 00:13:18.960 There was very great rejoicing in this great feast that they had forgotten about and that 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:23.320 they were now celebrating as they rejoiced in God. 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:30.440 So how does any of this from chapter 8 and Nehemiah relate to 21st century Christians 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:37.760 in Edinburgh and to your life as you'll go out into the world tomorrow and even this 00:13:37.760 --> 00:13:38.760 evening in your life? 00:13:38.760 --> 00:13:42.960 Well, first of all, we remember it's part of God's Word, Old Testament and the New Testament 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:43.960 together. 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:50.080 And it all fits together as we recall that the Old Testament points towards the work 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:51.080 of Christ. 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:57.280 We're hanging the Bible before Christ points towards Him and everything since Christ points 00:13:57.280 --> 00:13:58.560 back to Him. 00:13:58.560 --> 00:14:04.120 And so we have a reminder of the spiritual work of God in the Old Testament is paralleled 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:06.639 by the work of Christ in the New Testament. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:14.680 And the significant reality for us all is that Christ came to change people's hearts. 00:14:14.680 --> 00:14:19.000 That's the theme of this passage, is that their hearts were renewed and revived and refreshed 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:22.639 under the Word of God, and that's what Christ has come to do. 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:28.879 2 Corinthians 5, 17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the oldest 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:30.919 past away, the new has come. 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:36.200 And the new creation that you and I are, are that Christ has changed our hearts. 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:39.960 He has changed our hearts in order to worship Him. 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:46.480 And this, I do believe this passage touches on the much fuller work of the Holy Spirit 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:50.800 in the New Testament, which is also spoken about in Ezekiel, which is one of the pictures 00:14:50.800 --> 00:14:55.600 we'll be looking at, the valley of dry bones, where God breathes life, the spirit of God 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.800 breathes life into dry bones and brings them alive. 00:14:58.800 --> 00:15:06.279 And that is what we have, and that is what is inexplicable about our lives. 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:14.639 For the first time, we can worship the living God as we have come to faith in Him through 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:23.639 Jesus Christ, and prayer is what enables that ongoing work to develop and mature as we keep 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:31.759 going back to Him and seek, as we read His Word, that we recognize it becoming a living 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:37.039 Word and a Word where God speaks to us and speaks into our hearts and speaks into our 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:43.120 lives, and we can be moved to tears. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:51.519 As we grieve over our sin and recognize how far away we are from His purity and His beauty, 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:58.799 as we were singing about, or as we mentioned at the call to worship, and we turn to Him, 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:06.240 it's, that's where we find the beauty of Jesus in the Bible, in His living Word. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:10.080 You might say, well, I want something better. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:11.320 I want something more dramatic. 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:13.920 I want something more visual. 00:16:13.920 --> 00:16:23.240 We have in His Word that they stood for six hours weeping and praising because they met 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:28.640 with God through His Word in a spiritual and miraculous way. 00:16:28.640 --> 00:16:34.800 And as we read, as we prayerfully read God's Word, we should seek the same, that we see 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:43.799 our need of repentance and that is ongoing, but that our tears are turned to laughter. 00:16:43.799 --> 00:16:48.799 There should be great joy and celebration because of His strength and because of who 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:49.799 He is. 00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:57.000 And as we rest in Him, we are given a whole new transformed heart. 00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:00.719 And the danger is we're working on the pattern and the structure and the building of our 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:08.720 lives and are maybe neglecting most this relationship with the living God through His Word. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:16.000 Through His Word, through His prayer and His Word is two great, two great pillars of our 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.480 Christian lives, prayer and the Word. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.400 That never changes. 00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:23.720 The Word of God is living and powerful. 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.640 Hebrews 4, 12, you know this verse, don't you? 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:27.960 We've heard it so much. 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:30.880 The Word of God is living and active. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:36.440 It's sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the division of soul and spirit of joints 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:38.759 and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of heart. 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:44.680 You know that and I know that it takes really well, but do we believe and do we experience 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:49.160 that in our lives? 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:56.559 That is what I would like to just impress upon us all this evening. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:05.000 That is true, and this is true in MI9, but we need to recognize that and wrestle with 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:10.679 God's Word and wrestle in prayer to enable that to be the case in our lives. 00:18:10.679 --> 00:18:18.679 We need to pray it into our experience and pray, believingly, in the dynamism of God's 00:18:18.679 --> 00:18:19.679 Word. 00:18:19.679 --> 00:18:21.720 This is a living Word, okay? 00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:22.960 It's not a dry dull. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:27.079 But if we go into a thing that is a dry dull book, that's exactly what will be. 00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:32.160 But as we recognize a living God speaks through His Word to us, we will find unsearchable 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:34.759 riches and insights of truth. 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:35.759 But what does that mean? 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:37.200 Well, it means a couple of things. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:40.400 It means it needs our attention. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:45.799 We're told here that the people of God attended to the Word of God. 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:46.799 They were attentive. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:50.920 They listened, and we saw that for the six hours that they stood. 00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:54.600 And that's true for us, and that's true for you and me in our lives. 00:18:54.600 --> 00:18:59.759 Too often, I think, our opening of the Bible is an afterthought. 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:06.840 It's cheap, and it's meaningless, and it's quite either ritualistic or even worse, it's 00:19:06.840 --> 00:19:07.840 superstitious. 00:19:07.840 --> 00:19:10.360 I'll have a better day today if I read my verse. 00:19:10.360 --> 00:19:13.360 I'll have a worse day if I don't. 00:19:13.360 --> 00:19:19.480 It's not related to the power of a living relationship with God. 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:25.720 We need to get our attention, and we need to move beyond the knowledge barrier. 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:28.400 You're not reading the Word simply to gain knowledge. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:33.559 However important and significant knowledge is, you're listening, we're searching, we're 00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:41.519 pleading, we're digging, we're applying, we're examining, we're discovering God. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:43.640 That's what we do in the open. 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:49.039 We're needing to ask what God is saying, and what God wants us to learn from this, and 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:57.839 what dark corner of my life is God's light shining into that He wants? 00:19:57.839 --> 00:19:58.839 What is it? 00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:00.519 They were attentive to God's Word. 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:04.039 What is it in our lives that gets our attention? 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:07.319 What is it that we spend all our time on? 00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:15.920 Now, I know I'm in danger here of being a stuck record, but I speak to my own soul first. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:22.800 Because today's distractions of social media and entertainment at the touch of a switch 00:20:22.800 --> 00:20:29.039 is an appetite we're feeding all the time, and it takes our attention all the time. 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:30.400 It does feed an appetite. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:36.039 It's a different shallow appetite, and it's a different appetite generally from what the 00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:38.560 Bible requires. 00:20:38.560 --> 00:20:44.560 It's much tougher, much more sinew and muscle spiritually required to open the Word and 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:50.799 to dig and to find truth, unsearchably rich truth, than it is to spend half an hour on 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.000 Instagram, much harder. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:54.799 So it needs our attention. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:59.879 And as it needs our attention, then it also triggers our spiritual emotions, and we look 00:20:59.879 --> 00:21:03.480 to pray for that in our lives. 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:10.559 Morning, seeing how easily we love the wrong things and hate the right things, and maybe 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:16.720 take God's grace for granted, moved by His holiness, weeping possibly at the state of 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:22.279 our own lives, or it can be tears of relief and joy at the forgiveness or the answer to 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:25.679 prayer we find through His Word. 00:21:25.679 --> 00:21:27.179 But also celebration. 00:21:27.179 --> 00:21:34.240 There's a great emphasis in this chapter on joy and celebration. 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:39.960 I wonder how often that is a response to communion with God and His Word. 00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:47.240 But it's at the very core of God's Word to us, His love and His gracious character to 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:49.519 us is the response. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:56.000 You know, if you say, you know, don't weep, don't cry, don't be grieved. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:00.600 This is a day for eating and drinking and sharing fellowship and sharing with those who don't 00:22:00.600 --> 00:22:05.519 have and great rejoicing because of understanding who God is. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:11.160 And understanding the strength of God, God's strength in their lives. 00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:19.920 That's a great reason for us to celebrate and to rejoice and to eat and drink and be 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.359 joyful in our Christian lives. 00:22:22.359 --> 00:22:31.599 And I think that's a hugely underplayed element of our Christian lives is rejoicing and celebration 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:37.399 in the name of Jesus, eating and drinking together, celebrating who He is and doing 00:22:37.399 --> 00:22:41.079 so because of Jesus Christ. 00:22:41.079 --> 00:22:46.319 And the last thing I want to say about this chapter is the importance of being reminded 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:50.919 to rest in grace and rest in grace together. 00:22:50.919 --> 00:22:55.399 That was what the Feast of Booths was all about. 00:22:55.400 --> 00:23:01.440 And that's what the Feast of Booths here reminds us of as we look at it with New Testament 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:04.560 lens, New Testament eyes. 00:23:04.560 --> 00:23:09.519 Now, okay, I'm going to say something ridiculous here. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:17.400 If I ever did a PhD, okay, I would do one on the theology of rest and celebration. 00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:24.320 I think it's the most counterintuitive and ignored teaching in the whole universe. 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:30.960 I would do it on the theology of rest and celebration because it's so different from 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:34.119 what we think in our minds. 00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:42.480 Everything about us says that our work justifies who we are, what we've done. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:47.960 Our worth is in our gifting or in our labor or in our effort. 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:52.879 You know, we might not verbalize it, but basically we think God's going to help those 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:54.600 who help themselves. 00:23:54.600 --> 00:23:56.440 That's what we think. 00:23:56.440 --> 00:23:58.080 We deserve what we get. 00:23:58.080 --> 00:24:00.640 Busy is virtuous. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:03.200 First question we ask people, what do you do? 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:04.200 What's your identity? 00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:06.800 What do you do? 00:24:06.800 --> 00:24:10.680 Identity is not who we are, it's what we do very often. 00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:13.240 And there's an element that has to be the case, I guess. 00:24:13.240 --> 00:24:17.160 But it spills into our thinking and the church and to our relationship with God. 00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:22.840 But grace changes everything about that way of thinking. 00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:32.919 Grace changes everything about that so that rest biblically is a huge concept because 00:24:32.919 --> 00:24:36.879 rest is understanding the doctrine of justification by faith. 00:24:36.879 --> 00:24:41.159 We are justified because of what Christ has done on our behalf. 00:24:41.159 --> 00:24:44.039 It's all about what God has done, not what we can do. 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:46.959 Grace says, I've done it all for you. 00:24:46.959 --> 00:24:49.039 You rest in me. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:50.319 You rest in me. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:51.599 You can never earn it. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:53.000 You can never repay it. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:55.199 So rest in me. 00:24:55.199 --> 00:25:03.119 The whole theology of rest of the Lord's day, rest on day seven of creation, is all pointing 00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:08.000 forward to our eternal rest, but it speaks of the rest spiritually that we're to enjoy 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:12.359 now in Christ. 00:25:12.359 --> 00:25:16.799 And then when we're resting in Christ and not finding that we need to earn our favor with 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:22.039 Him, it means that the work we do, which is absolutely right, that it's important to work, 00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:27.919 we can put Him at the center of it rather than us, and we can give Him the glory for 00:25:27.919 --> 00:25:34.839 what He's given us and for what we do, and we can lay it at His feet as well and remind 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:37.480 ourselves of the importance of that. 00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:41.879 And here, so here day, this day is an important day. 00:25:41.879 --> 00:25:43.079 The Lord's day is important. 00:25:43.079 --> 00:25:45.599 Here daynes rest and celebration. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:49.559 It reflects His grace. 00:25:49.559 --> 00:25:53.119 It reflects His grace. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:58.079 The seventh day in Genesis, it doesn't say, and there was evening and there was morning, 00:25:58.079 --> 00:25:59.959 the seventh day. 00:25:59.959 --> 00:26:02.519 It doesn't say that. 00:26:02.519 --> 00:26:10.679 God entered His rest and there's, Hebrews takes that and links it to our rest in Christ 00:26:10.679 --> 00:26:12.799 and celebration and the foretaste of heaven. 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:14.480 It's the theme of the kingdom. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:19.079 Heaven isn't described as a sweatshop. 00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:27.599 It's described as a marriage feast, a place of rest and fellowship and love and extravagance 00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:32.120 and all the characteristics that go with that. 00:26:32.120 --> 00:26:39.039 Because the closer we are to Christ, the more we are joyful and celebratory in our lives. 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:45.159 It's very un-Calvinistic. 00:26:45.159 --> 00:26:48.039 Or is it? 00:26:48.039 --> 00:26:51.839 I think it's very Calvinistic. 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:55.200 And this one day in seven is to be a taste of heaven. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:59.680 You need to rest on this day, physically and spiritually. 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:02.619 Don't make Sundays just like every other day. 00:27:02.619 --> 00:27:10.039 Make them days of worship and rest and celebration and sharing hospitality together. 00:27:10.039 --> 00:27:11.039 Celebratory days. 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:17.439 So each Lord's day shouldn't be stale for us because they're not stale because we're 00:27:17.439 --> 00:27:25.759 coming to them as those who recognize who God is. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:31.639 We don't want to be chasing new experiences, external experiences all the time. 00:27:31.640 --> 00:27:38.000 But there should be an internal newness from our relationship with God. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:44.320 And it's good not only to break with routine once a week, but break with routine throughout 00:27:44.320 --> 00:27:45.320 the year. 00:27:45.320 --> 00:27:51.240 Do things at different pace, different perspective, festivals, holidays, special times with God, 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:53.720 doing things out of the ordinary. 00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:54.720 That's what he's... 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:58.600 The Old Testament is full of that, renewed and refreshed. 00:27:58.599 --> 00:28:02.839 And I think that speaks loudly into our crazy, busy world. 00:28:02.839 --> 00:28:08.159 And if you're looking for satisfaction and rest and meaning and significance in anything 00:28:08.159 --> 00:28:12.719 outside of Jesus Christ, you will never find it. 00:28:12.719 --> 00:28:14.719 Never find it. 00:28:14.719 --> 00:28:17.000 Jesus Christ is where we find our rest. 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:19.959 And His grace says, I've done it all. 00:28:19.959 --> 00:28:22.119 That's a great thing, isn't it? 00:28:22.119 --> 00:28:23.119 Let's pray. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:25.879 Lord God, we thank you that you've done it all for us. 00:28:25.879 --> 00:28:28.119 And we thank you. 00:28:28.119 --> 00:28:33.799 And ask that our worship together would be times that are really vibrant and meaningful 00:28:33.799 --> 00:28:39.839 and fresh, not because of razzimataz or anything like that, but because we are being renewed 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:41.519 in the Spirit. 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:51.439 We are working at grace, working at receiving grace, working at understanding grace, not 00:28:51.439 --> 00:28:55.599 in order to make us right with God, but because we are right with you. 00:28:55.599 --> 00:29:05.119 And may we focus and celebrate on who you are and what that means, and know the joy, 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:08.480 repentance and joy and fullness that He brings. 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:12.919 Bless us as we conclude with a song together of praise. 00:29:12.920 --> 00:29:30.600 Amen.