There's a reason why sorry is the hardest word to say, isn't it?
Any number of reasons actually why that may be the case. Saying sorry to someone for hurt
! or offence we've caused them means we're acknowledging by definition
we did something wrong and aren't perfect, isn't it? And that's a hard thing to do. It makes us vulnerable.
And we're taught every day to be strong, to stand our ground, to defend ourselves.
Especially in a city like London which can be a very harsh place. The law of the jungle very quickly becomes the law of the concrete jungle.
And the other reason why it's hard to say sorry is because things need to change. If we're truly sorry, and if it's about acknowledging our sin, that's even harder.
But it is important to think about how we repent of sin. How we come back to God and say we're sorry for our sin and we turn to him after we've wandered away.
In the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, in Mark 1.15, the first thing that Jesus says when he starts his public ministry is
the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in this Gospel.
So repentance is about more than just being sorry for sin. It is turning from sin and being sorry for it and returning to God.
And if sorry is the hardest thing to say, repentance is one of the hardest things to do.
If you're exploring Christianity and you're here this morning, maybe you've not heard this before, but
becoming a Christian, Christianity is not just about believing something about God.
It also involves turning from our life before and from sin to Jesus. And if you are a Christian, this morning it's also relevant to you.
Are you still repenting of your sin or has it slipped down the list of priorities in everyday busy life?
But how does it look? How does it look to turn from sin to God? And if it's so hard to do, how do we even do it?
And that's what this passage in Chronicles speaks to you.
Now, the book of Chronicles is maybe one of those books, in the Old Testament especially, that we don't read that often.
I don't know if you're like you, but you might read through the Bible, you get to Samuel and kings, and you read all the stories of all the kings of Israel, and they go into exile, and then you get to Chronicles.
And it's a bit of deja vu, in a sense. Like, haven't I just read this? It's a bit like there's a glitch in the matrix, in a sense.
We've covered this ground.
But it is because they tell different stories.
Not different in the sense of completely different events, but the same story from different perspectives.
So we realize different things.
See, the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, or Samuel and kings, answer this question that Israel and Judah had when they went into exile.
How did we end up in this mess?
How did things get to this point, that we're out of the land, away from God, in this foreign land?
Why is there no king from David's line on the throne, as God promised?
Why are we not worshipping at the temple, where God said he'd dwell with us?
Why is Jerusalem destroyed?
Why is there no hope of going home anytime soon?
And the book of Chronicles tells the story, how do we get out of this mess?
What has God done in the past, in his faithful nature, in his faithful dealings with us, and how is he going to deal with us in the future?
What must we do to return to him so that he will return to us?
How is God going to be faithful and fulfill all his promises to us?
So there are different perspectives on the same story.
God's faithful dealings with his people through his covenant, according to his promises, and that's what Chronicles wants to tell the people of Israel and Judah.
But there's even more to it than that.
I don't know if you knew this, but the order of the books as we have it in the English Bible, the Old Testament books, it's slightly different in the Hebrew Bible.
So our books are kind of grouped together, same types of books together.
You know, your history books and your prophets and so on.
And that makes a lot of sense in many ways, and you've got all the same kind of books together.
In the Hebrew Bible, you've got Chronicles right at the end.
Because it wants to tell people, God's people, Israel and Judah, as they were in exile, how do you look forward after this?
It's interesting the connections that it makes then, in the order of books then.
Ruth follows Proverbs, for example, and Ruth is spoken about as a woman of valor, and it's just after the end of Proverbs, which talks about this woman of valor.
So an interesting kind of connections that it makes in that way.
But the important thing here is, the writer of Chronicles wants to point God's people to a life looking forward, based on how God has dealt with these people always through history.
And when we come to these end chapters of Chronicles with that kind of perspective, they almost take on a couple of different nuances.
We look at them in a different way.
They're not just a history chapter that tells us about something that happens in the past.
There's a different angle to this that's relevant for us too.
That's how God has worked in and through our history too, and how he fulfills his promises.
These chapters want to tell us, look up, have faith.
This is how God's people should live, until he returns to us.
And that's just another way of describing repentance.
Repentance is a big word.
Kids, on your sheet somewhere there should be something about that too.
But it's really just a way of describing us turning from our sin, where we've wandered away from God,
confessing that sin to God, being sorry about our sin, and turning back to God.
And that is the picture that is described in this chapter.
How God's people do that.
There's a fascinating couple of bits in these last couple of chapters.
Just after Ezekiah's story that we just read, in chapter 33 and so on,
we read about an evil king again, Manasseh.
Chronicles is very honest.
It doesn't kind of gloss over the bad kings that Israel had and the sins they had.
But it focuses attention on the hopeful future that lies in returning to God and God's faithfulness.
But it's interesting how it's contrasted sometimes with, as I said, the kind of story that we've read in Kings, about these kings.
See, in 2 Kings 21, Manasseh is described in this way.
He says in verse 9,
But they did not listen.
And Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done, whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
He'd done more evil than the evil nations who'd been there before.
Therefore, thus says the Lord the God of Israel,
Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster,
that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
That is a pretty shocking indictment.
And in 2 Chronicles 33, it doesn't gloss over those things.
For example, it tells us,
Manasseh burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the son of Hinnom,
and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery,
and dealt with mediums and necromancers.
He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
So these chapters then gloss over the unsavory parts of Israel and Judah's history.
But where's the emphasis in Chronicles?
Again, in chapter 33, verse 11,
Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria,
who captured Manasseh with hooks,
and bound him with chains of bronze,
and brought him to Babylon.
And when he was in distress,
he entreated the favour of the Lord his God,
and humbled himself greatly before the God of his forefathers.
He prayed to him,
and God was moved by his entreaty,
and heard his plea,
and brought him again to Jerusalem,
into his kingdom.
Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
And he goes on to talk about how they removed all the foreign gods
and the idols from the temple,
and restored altar and temple worship.
We tell different versions of the same story as well, don't we?
You read about an event in the news,
and it looks like the Guardian and the Daily Mail's reporters
were on opposite sides of the planet.
I watch an Arsenal-Tottenham match,
and although you'd think the facts can only be described in one way,
that Arsenal is always superior,
where a Tottenham supporter, for some reason,
would describe a game where they played much better than they did.
It's not necessarily malicious.
Different perspectives.
The difference here, though, is that both of these perspectives
are God's perspective.
The all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God,
who directed all of these events
to bring a people to himself.
And they're both true.
And the emphasis, even in Manasseh's account,
which we saw, is on repentance and turning to him.
That's the central idea here.
God is faithful.
God is just.
God is righteous.
To have sent us into exile.
But if we return to him,
he does not turn his face from us.
He turns to us.
And it is glorious.
Manasseh repents,
but it is only because God leads him to repentance.
And through him the people.
And don't miss this.
Even Manasseh can repent.
They still went into exile.
There were still consequences for their sin.
But no one is beyond saving.
What a message for a people who were in exile to hear
as they were going back to the Promised Land.
So these last couple of chapters of the book of Chronicles
has much to teach us, too,
about how to return to God.
How to repent of our sin.
How does this look like?
And if you've had anything like the week I've had,
or just any week at all,
you'll know that repenting from our sin
and turning to God
is not something we ever stop doing.
We see a couple of things about repentance in this passage.
And the writer clearly wants to stress for us.
And for the people in exile,
as they were about to go back to the Promised Land.
Here's the first thing.
Repentance is
to God,
for God,
and because of God.
verses 6 to 13.
Hezekiah writes to all of Israel.
They were in the southern kingdom at this stage.
The northern kingdom had gone into exile already.
Had been taken into exile.
Had been captured and taken to another land.
That's not their home.
And he calls to all of them
to come and celebrate the Passover.
We'll touch on the Passover again later.
But not just Hezekiah,
the princes and the entire assembly.
They do it together.
This is a corporate exercise.
This is not just an individual exercise.
This is an exercise
for all the people
to come together
and repent and turn to God.
Earlier in the service,
we confessed our sin
and heard of God's forgiveness.
We continue to do the same thing.
All over the world,
God's people do that today.
So the St. Kuri is far and wide
through the land
and they tell them
the first thing to realize about repentance,
it is necessary.
It is absolutely necessary.
Why?
Because this is what their covenant Lord requires.
Verse 6.
O people of Israel,
return to the Lord,
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
that he may turn again
to the remnant of you
who have escaped
from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
Do not be like your fathers and brothers
who are faithless
to the Lord of their fathers.
Do not now be stiff-necked
as your fathers were,
but yield yourself to the Lord
that his fierce anger
may turn away from you.
You see, God's not just an abstract God,
is he?
He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
the covenant Lord
who made a covenant with these people
that he would be their God
and they would be his people.
And they've broken faith with him.
The eternal creator of all things
who chose them to be his people
and they were rebellious,
stiff-necked.
It's always such a
satisfyingly descriptive phrase
that's used about God's people.
And they turn to other gods.
And Hezekiah is spelling out
what should be blatantly obvious to them.
Israel, the northern kingdom,
you're in exile.
Your brothers are far away
because they rejected God.
You know this.
When you're in a hole,
stop digging.
Come back to God.
Your land's empty and abandoned,
but He is here.
Return to Him
so His fierce anger
may turn away from you.
Sounds obvious.
But,
if it was so obvious,
they would probably do it.
See, there's something here about
we need to be reminded
of the seriousness of our sin.
Even when we can see
the consequences in our lives.
At adult Bible school,
at adult Sunday school,
in the mornings,
we're looking at the atonement
in the morning.
In the last couple of Sundays,
we're about how serious our sin is.
Israel knew the consequences
of their sin,
but they needed to be reminded
of the seriousness of it.
We see it every day.
The world has fallen.
We see the consequences
of sin every day
in wars,
in the vile politics
that's going on,
in the way people talk
to each other.
Our own relationships
are strained
and fall apart.
But until we realize
that that is because
the world has abandoned
the God who created
this world,
we won't necessarily realize
we need to return to Him.
But it doesn't stop there.
What happens when
the people return to God?
Does Hezekiah tell them?
He says,
God is gracious
and compassionate.
And we should never forget
to bring those two together.
that God is just
and righteous
and angry about sin.
But He is always gracious
and compassionate
to those who return to Him.
So in verse 9,
Hezekiah says,
If you return,
your brothers will return
for the reason
why they will return.
It's not because you returned
in the first instance
and did the right thing now,
but because the Lord your God
is gracious and merciful
and will not turn His face
from you if you return to Him.
Isn't that incredible?
You see,
in that time,
God's presence was with them
in the temple
and in the promised land.
In that city of God,
in Jerusalem,
being far away
in a foreign land
meant they were physically
far from God.
And here He says,
If you return to Me,
I will return you
to the land
that I promised you,
that I gave to you.
And more importantly than that,
I will not turn my face
away from you.
And some mocked
and scorned
these messengers
as they kind of went
through the land.
And that kind of rings true
with our experience too,
doesn't it?
People who want to
call the world
back to God
often get mocked
and scorned.
So it's not a new thing.
But some did return
from Manasseh
and Zebulun
and Asher.
And they've been,
you know,
from tribes
of people
whose people
have been in exile
for a long time.
But some of them
were left
and some of them
came back to God
and it seems
humanly impossible.
From a human perspective,
they were a write-off.
But God is faithful
despite their unfaithfulness.
Despite the people
around them
mocking and scorning
these messengers,
some of them
come back to Jerusalem.
They return physically
to Jerusalem,
but even more than that,
they've returned spiritually.
They humble themselves
to come back to God.
And that's significant.
But then you probably
know as well as I do
someone
that might come to mind
who is never wrong
and will fight to the death
rather than admit
that he or she was wrong.
You might recognize
that in yourself.
You might be driving somewhere
and suspect
you're on the wrong road
and start to realize
you're on the wrong way.
And the people in the car
start to realize
you're on the wrong way.
And everyone realizes,
everyone else has realized
that we're on the wrong way.
And you do your best
poker face expression
to desperately try
and work out
how you're going to get back
on the right way
without having to admit
at all
that you went
the wrong way.
The sat nav's a bit broken
or something like that.
I did that yesterday
and I was late
for the thing I had to be at
yesterday afternoon.
We all know ourselves
when we fought
tooth and nail
to prove we're right
even when we're
obviously wrong,
don't we?
No, I didn't lie to you.
No, of course,
I'd never say something
behind your back.
Why is it even possible
to repent?
If that's our natural
instinctive reaction
to justify ourselves,
to prove we're right
and not to admit defeat,
how does it work?
We see this amazing thing
in verse 12,
the hand of God
was also on Judah
to give them
one heart to do
what the king
and the prince
has commanded
by the word of the Lord.
See, when God
expects us
to return to him,
he returns us
to him.
We repent,
but it is God
who causes us
to repent.
The Lord himself
shows us grace
by giving us hearts
that want to repent
and return to him
when we're unable
to do that.
Judah was not able
to return to the Lord.
The people from Israel,
from Asherah,
Manasseh,
and Zebulun,
were not able
to return to the Lord
themselves.
Here's the encouragement
for us.
If you're struggling
to fully turn
from sin
to God,
don't give up.
If you know
someone
you are praying
will turn
to God,
do not give up.
What seems impossible
to us
is always possible
with God.
Don't ever,
ever give up.
God can turn
anyone back
to him
or to him
so that he won't
ever turn his face
from them.
You see,
we're not physically
in exile
like Israel
and Judah,
but spiritually
we are too.
We live in a world
that's rejected God
and doesn't know him.
And the Apostle Peter
writes in 1 Peter,
Once you were not
a people,
but now you are
God's people.
Once you've not
received mercy,
but now you have
received mercy.
Beloved,
I urge you
as sojourners
and exiles
to abstain
from the trespassions
of the flesh
which wage war
against your soul.
You see,
God is always
faithful
in returning
to those
who turn to him
from exile
of his presence.
And until
Christ returns,
he brings us
to that repentance
day after day
when we're not
able to do it
ourselves.
The second thing
that we see
about repentance
in this passage
is it must lead
to right worship.
See,
coming into
God's presence
as we do
every Sunday
in a particular
and a special way
means we need
to worship
incorrectly.
That's why
we do
things in a
certain way.
We have
certain elements
of the service.
We have a call
to worship
and we confess
our sin
and we hear
forgiveness
and we hear
God's word
preached.
And we see
here it didn't
go smoothly
for God's people
returning him
to worship him
correctly.
They didn't know
how.
They had forgotten
how to do it
right.
And that would
have sounded
familiar to
God's people
in exile
reading this
as an
encouragement.
And for us
if we've
struggled with
sin or felt
far away from
God or felt
we'd wandered
off from him
we can feel
unprepared to
come to God
and unworthy.
So they
removed the
altars to
the idols.
They came to
slaughter the
Passover lamb
but not all
the people
were ready.
And in fact
the priests
and the Levites
were not
ready.
In verse 15
they slaughtered
the Passover
lamb and the
priests and
Levites were
ashamed so
they consecrated
themselves and
brought burnt
offerings into
the house of
the Lord.
They saw
what was
happening and
responded by
consecrating
themselves, by
making themselves
ritually clean
and returning
to God.
They realized
the importance
of coming to
him as he
had told them
to.
And in
verse 17
though the
people themselves
weren't ready
either.
There were
many in the
assembly who
had not
consecrated
themselves and
therefore the
Levites had to
slaughter the
Passover lamb
for everyone who
was not clean
to consecrate
it to the
Lord.
And the
writers of the
Chronicles
doesn't condone
it.
But here's
the point
he makes.
It's not
people's outward
expression of
repentance and
faith.
That is the
prime factor,
the most
important factor
in the Lord's
consideration of
it.
Whether they
came ritually
clean and did
all the right
things according
to the law
wasn't the
most important
factor.
A couple of
weeks ago
Chris preached
from Malachi and
there was this
shocking line in
chapter 1.
God speaks to
them and he
says,
Oh that there
were one among
you who would
shut the
doors that you
might not
kindle fire on
my altar in
vain.
I have no
pleasure in
you says the
Lord of
hosts.
I will not
accept an
offering from
your hand.
There's a way
of doing the
external things
that hides
something severely
wrong in our
hearts.
And what
happens here is
the opposite.
Their hearts
have turned,
their hearts
are set to
see God,
and he
recognises that.
So despite
them not be
outwardly ready,
God provides
someone to
intercede for
them.
Hezekiah
prays and
God heals
them in
verse 20.
Spiritually
makes them
acceptable in
his presence
to keep the
Passover because
they set their
hearts to
seek the
Lord.
here's the
reality about
repentance.
None of us
come ready
completely and
fully to God
to be acceptable
in his sight.
We cannot do
that.
We have a
constant need of
repentance.
We sin all the
time.
And if you're
waiting to come
to God because
you feel you need
to be perfect
before you can do
that, this
passage in
Chronicles tells
us, don't
wait for
that.
If your
heart is set
to seek God,
come to him
and seek him
and repent and
turn to him and
believe in him.
And God's
abundantly
gracious.
He accepts
them, healing
them spiritually
and there's an
intercessor who
intercedes with
God on their
behalf.
You see, we
have a high
priest who does
the same thing
for us, don't
we?
In Hebrews we
read, we do
not have a high
priest who is
unable to
sympathize with
our weaknesses
but one who
in every respect
has been
tempted as we
are yet without
sin.
Let us then
with confidence
draw near to
the throne of
grace that we
may receive
mercy and find
grace to help
in time of
need.
In the days of
his flesh,
Jesus offered
up prayers and
supplications with
loud cries and
tears to him
and was able to
save him from
death and he
was heard because
of his reverence.
See, if there's
any reason for you
to think you
cannot approach
God, we have a
better high
priest than any
high priest Israel
ever had.
We have the
Son of God
himself praying
for us at this
very moment and
every day in a
way that Hezekiah
could never pray
for the people.
and you can
come to the
throne of grace
to God with
confidence,
perfectly
righteous,
perfectly
sanctified,
perfectly
consecrated.
But here's the
most important
thing that we see
about repentance
here.
It's to God,
for God and
because of Him.
it leads to
right worship.
But repentance
is incomplete
without trusting
only in God's
gracious saving
work.
See, we haven't
yet answered the
question that I
kind of alluded to
earlier.
Why this massive
focus on the
Passover at the
end of Chronicles?
You see, we've
got it here in
chapter 30.
A couple of
chapters later,
we've got
Josiah coming.
The king,
after Manasseh
and Amon,
went off the
rails again a
bit and came
back to God
and led the
people astray.
Josiah reforms
things again.
They find the
book of the
law, they read
from it, they
all cut to the
heart, they
repent, and
they celebrate
the Passover
again.
Chronicles
talks about the
Passover as
much or more
than any other
book in the
Old Testament.
And it comes
right here at
the end, and
right here at
the end of the
Old Testament
in the Hebrew
Bible.
Why?
Why does God
focus so much
attention on
this for us
too?
So we've got
to think, what
did the Passover
signify?
It recalls the
Exodus, when God
rescued his
people from
Egypt.
as he had
promised Abraham
he would do, and
make a people
from them.
Their rescue
from Egypt was
not their work.
It was God's
gracious saving
work to save
them from
Egypt.
They could
never have
done it
themselves.
It reminded
them that an
atoning death
in their place
was necessary
when they
sacrificed the
Passover lamb
and put the
blood on the
doorpost to
show that they
realised that
their sin was
serious and they
would be
accepted in
God's presence
when blood
has been spilled
for it.
It was a
serious thing
to remind
them of.
And God
promised to
bring them to
the promised
land when
he took
them out
of Egypt.
This tiny
nation, powerless,
powerless in the
context of the
world they lived
in, into this
lush land that
overflowed with
milk and
honey.
And it
reminded them
that God had
promised that
he would send
a Messiah to
put an end
to sin and
death.
all of that
was wrapped
up in
there.
And with
the recounting
of the
Passover is
such a
powerful thing
in their life
as a nation
that God
had commanded
them to do
every year.
And we have
this shocking
announcement here
in this passage
that they
had not
sacrificed the
Passover,
celebrated the
Passover as
often as
commanded.
it.
And when
that happens
there's a
danger,
isn't there,
when we
forget that
we rest in
the finished
work of
God.
And what
could have
happened with
these Israelites
and Judahites
going back from
exile to think
that if they
do the right
things, if they
return to
the sacrifices
in the right
way, that
they could
become right
with God
through their
contribution,
their action.
And as we
saw in Malachi,
that is to
an extent what
happened.
But it's when
they celebrate
the Passover
in this passage
that their joy
is complete.
I don't know
if you saw
in verse 26,
there was
great joy in
Jerusalem, for
since the time
of Solomon,
the son of
David, king
of Israel,
there have
been nothing
like this in
Jerusalem.
It wasn't
because they
had a great
feast and
there were
loads of
bulls and
there was a
great time in
Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, it's
because the
Passover showed
that God
turned to
them when
they had
not yet
turned to
him.
Because he
had promised
to provide
them with a
saver who
would be the
true Passover
lamb, the
one who died
in their place
so they could
be rescued
from sin.
So we know
we need to
turn from
sin.
We know
that part of
repentance.
If you've
been in
a church for
any length
of time you
would have
probably heard
that or if
you haven't
been in a
church.
We know
very often
that our
lives need
to change.
Instinctively
we feel
that.
But here's
what this
chapter tells
us.
Our joy
will not
be complete
until we
only rest
in the
finished work
of God
on our
behalf.
You see
the Passover
looked backwards
and forwards
for Judah
in very
powerful ways.
But what
they look
forward to
is present
reality for
us.
But we
have the
Lord Jesus
Christ
interceding
for us
in heaven
right now.
We heard
this morning
at our
Sunday
school
from
Jeremiah
6
where
God
rebukes
the
priests
and he
tells,
he rebukes
them for
crying peace,
peace when
there is no
peace.
saying,
they healed
the wound
of my
people
lightly.
Hezekiah
prayed to
the Lord
and he
healed the
people.
He
reconciled
them to
him.
Jesus
Christ
paid a
much
greater
price
than
these
sacrifices
in the
Passover
lamb to
heal us
and to
reconcile us
to God
permanently.
And there
was a
perverse
joy
in
Jerusalem
when the
true
Passover
lamb
was
sacrificed
for us.
The
people
rejoiced
over that
Passover
lamb
but in a
very wrong
way.
But we
know there
is great
joy in
heaven
when a
single
sinner
comes to
repentance.
And our
prayer is
heard every
moment of
every day
in God's
holy habitation
in heaven
through Jesus'
prayers on
our behalf.
Let's
continue to
return to
God with
confidence.
The God
who turned
to us in
Christ when
we turned
away from
him.
And he
will never
turn his
face from
us as
his beloved
children.
Let's
pray.
Heavenly
Father our
sinful hearts
find it
hard to
return to
you when
we've
wandered,
when we've
sinned.
We are
proud.
We are
often stiff
necked
people.
Father we
give you
such great
praise that
when we
return to
you it
is not
because we
were able
to make
the effort
because we
will never
be but
because you
turned our
hearts,
because you
set our
hearts to
seek you.
Father we
praise you
that in
the Lord
Jesus you
turn to
us in a
way we
could never
have expected
demanded or
deserved.
Father we
pray that you
will turn
each of us
to you
again in
you in
this week
to come
and that we
will see your
face and be
glad.
Father we
pray this in
Jesus name.
Amen.
We're going to
sing again
now.
The hymn
Lord of
the Church
from page
7 of the
booklets.
Linger on
these words
in the first
verse.
Lord of the
Church we
pray for
your renewing
Christ over
all our
undivided
aim.
Fire of the
Spirit burn
for our
renewing.
Wind of the
Spirit fan the
flame.
We turn to
Christ amid
our fear and
failing.
The will that
lacks the courage
to be free.
The weary
labours all but
unavailing to
bring us nearer
what a church
should be.