Skip to content Confession Is Good for the Soul - Nehemiah, Part 9 Mar 23 · 49 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:13 Let's talk about Nehemiah. I wanna talk to you on the subject of confession is good for the soul. Take out your notes at all of our locations. Nehemiah chapter 9, we just read the first few verses. We will go through0:24 this. This is a a long chapter. If you take out the chapter, 7, nameless, which is really just a repository of all the names of the people of0:35 Israel who came back into the city after Nehemiah had rebuilt the walls. So this book is a what we call in in the bible world, we call this a post exilic book.0:47 That is a fancy phrase for saying, after Israel came out of exile to Babylon for 70 years, they returned to the land. King Cyrus of Persia issued a decree. He said, any Jews who wanna go back0:59 to the land, go and build your city again. Go and build your temple again. It was a miracle. It was a act of God. It was the fulfillment of the promises of God made to1:11 Abraham that they would own they would be in the land. It's their land. And, in the ancient world when peak when when kings conquered other nations, it was unheard of unheard of for a nation to ever get their1:23 land back. You were just you were just absorbed into the nation that conquered you and and your nation as it was was forgotten on the ash heap of history. Not Israel. And a lot of people say1:35 this, and I agree. The the greatest proof that the God of Israel, the God of the Jews is the true God is the fact that the Jewish1:46 people here we are 3500 years from the time when God spoke to Abraham, 3500 years later, and the Jewish people are1:58 still in that land worshiping that God, speaking their the same language and and and we're and and and reading the same ancient book, it's a2:09 miracle that they're and you say, well, why are you excited? You're a Gentile, and I am, but I'm a Gentile that is saved and adopted and grafted into the blessing and the promises of2:21 Abraham. His blessings are now my blessings because of Jesus. And the same is true for you, Christian. And so when you ever get doubtful, is God there? Has he2:32 abandoned me? Is he gonna come through? I just I just I just might sound weird to you, but I just pick up a map and look at Israel. I do. They're there. They're fighting. They're still strong.2:44 What an amazing symbol of God's faithfulness to his promise. And his promises to you are are faithful. So they've come back to the land, this long2:56 list of names in chapter 7. Take chapter 7 out. I went on that long diatribe to just basically say take chapter 7 out. And chapter 9 is the longest longest chapter in the book. It's the longest content3:08 rich chapter. And remember when I said to you last week that preaching verse by verse and chapter by chapter through the bible forces the preacher to talk about things that he wouldn't want3:20 to talk about otherwise? Well, it didn't take long to get to that for me because we're gonna talk about something that might sound uncomfortable, confession. Somebody say confession.3:34 So sometimes we don't wanna talk about this, but I I think it's a lost art in the church today. And I think if I'm gonna3:45 be completely honest, I'm a protestant through and through. I'm a protestant simply. I believe we are saved by grace through faith, and it is not of works. It we can't boast about it. None of us got into the faith3:56 because we earned it or because we're good people. We got into the faith because we realized we were bad people and Jesus was good for us. Amen, somebody. I'm Protestant. I don't believe in the4:08 sacramental, you know, means of grace that the Catholics believe in. But can I just be honest with you? I think the Catholics have us nailed on this 1. They have4:20 a practice called confession. Now they go to the priest, and I wanna just be on I just wanna be clear. I wanna be honest with you. I'm not interested in hearing your confession.4:33 You you gotta confess that stuff to somebody else. Preferably, who won't be on the stage preaching at you next week. You gotta think about that. See, gotta think of some there's somebody who say, pastor, can I talk to4:44 you in private? And I always say, no, you cannot. And I don't say that to be rude. I say that to protect you. Because you come and talk to me in private about what's going on in your life, and then I talk about it up4:54 here on this stage, guess what you're thinking? I can't believe he's talking about what I shared. Best for you to think it was the holy spirit put in my head instead of you. Amen. So anyway, the5:06 the act of confession, I believe, is a lost art in the protestant faith. We live in a world that is largely becoming more and more fake.5:20 We, it began with, you know, Instagram filters, And, social media has exacerbated this problem where we will put our highlight reels5:32 of our lives online. No 1 ever posts on Facebook. Just had a horrible fight with my husband. They always post, you know, the husband just did the5:43 dishes. I'm married to prince charming. Hashtag blessed. Then then you get on the Instagram and the filters, you know, the filt you apply the face filters. Anybody5:55 seeing this trend getting worse? It's getting worse. I see Facebook profile pictures sometimes and I'm like, that's not what they look like. And and, you know, you you gotta just6:07 check it because now we're also having a problem with something called AI, and AI is producing video content. And I think about where we are, it's only been 2 years since they released this thing on us.6:20 Where is it gonna be in another 2 years? So we've got this fakeness, and I think what it does is it massages our hearts to be fake. And and I6:31 think that the church is the last place on earth you should be fake. You can't get healed if you're not real. And this is not a6:43 movement for people who have it all together. Jesus said, I've come to call the sinners, not the righteous. I've come for the sick,6:56 not the healthy. And you say, well, where are the healthy? They don't exist. Where are the righteous? They don't exist. We're all sick sinners. Amen,7:07 somebody. He is the great physician, and he is the merciful savior. Now this chapter is about is a it's 1 long7:19 confession. That's what this chapter is, chapter 9. And you can summarize the theme of the chapter. In fact, I'll give you the summary in chapter 9 of Nehemiah verse 33. It's on your notes there. We'll put it on7:31 the screen. Here's the summary of the whole chapter. Israel saying to God, you have been righteous in all that has come upon us for you have dealt faithfully.7:43 Now say these last words with me, friends. And we have acted wickedly. That's hard to say. It's hard to admit you're wrong. Here's a layman's way of7:55 summarizing Nehemiah chapter 9. Ready? Write this down in your notes. God is good. We are bad. He can help. By the way, that's the gospel. God is8:06 good. We are bad. He can't not just he can. He has helped. He has helped. He has he has come in the person of his son, Jesus8:18 Christ, and he has died and bled for us. The blood of Jesus washes us clean, friends, Purifies our hearts. Moreover, it8:30 purifies our conscience. You might come into church feeling weighted down by your guilt and shame from what you did this past week. You might feel8:42 unworthy walking through the doors of our buildings. You might have had an argument with the spouse even on the way to church today. You might have been8:53 tearing each other's hearts out this past week. Maybe you overreacted to your kid's discipline problem. Maybe you cursed somebody. Maybe you looked at something you9:05 shouldn't have looked at, thought something, had murderous intent. We've all done these things. That's the human condition we're wrestling with. Can I tell somebody at every location, I'm not concerned9:17 how you walked in? I'm concerned how you're walking out. God has come to cleanse the guilty conscience for every sinner who's in our house. But the9:28 problem is that we don't want to do the hard work necessary to get to an absolved conscience. And that work is 1 word,9:40 confession. Confession. God is good. We are. Amen. He can help. Write this down. Our world is full of problems and pointing fingers.9:53 Our politicians teach us to blame the other side. Our country has shifted politically over the last, I think, 8 to 10 years, the Trump effect. The the10:05 the country was very left wing a few years. It's kinda shifted to the right. I've watched this long enough to realize that no matter who's in charge, the purse the the the parties that10:17 that's out of charge is going to blame the party that's in charge. And this is why we really never have, like, you know, 3 consecutive democrat presidents or 3 consecutive10:28 republican presidents because the name of the game is blame. That's really what it is. Your problems are because of them. Now then we have the10:40 news networks and this I don't know of how much influence they have anymore. They're kind of past dated. But we have x and we have social media, which also does this to us, blaming others. We have marriages10:52 falling apart because neither party wants to admit they're wrong. Rick Warren said that a great marriage is is made up of 2 great forgivers.11:05 I want to change it a little bit. I wanna say a great marriage is made up of 2 great confessors. Let let me ask you a hard question. Hard11:16 questions. That's what church is for. I'll ask you the questions that your work won't ask you, and your family won't ask you, and your friends won't ask you. Here's here's the question. Actually, I wrote it down. I11:27 wanted to get it right. When was the last time you truly, deeply, and honestly admitted you were wrong11:40 to somebody else? It's quiet. Preacher's preaching when it's quiet. Not halfway, not11:52 with a addendum saying because of this, I did that. Just owning the mistake. Just owning it.12:04 Now now let me even get a little bit let me get the tension in the air turned up a little bit higher. Are you ready?12:15 Wives, when was the last time you said to your12:26 husband, I was Wrong. Wrong? Jesus, help me.12:39 Husbands, same question. When was the last time you said to your wife you were wrong? That was a joke and you missed it.12:52 They were wrong. Get it? Never mind. You get the idea. When was the last time at work or with your children? 1 of the great 1 of my great13:04 author heroes wrote a book called Blue Like Jazz. He's a pastor and leader for some time, and Donald Miller is his name maybe. He was raised by a single mother who was in and out of13:16 relationships, left, right, and center. He said every guy would come in and abuse her, use her, and leave her. Never knew his father. So he had dad issues. He had family issues. He had trust issues. He grew up, and he13:28 said, I'm never getting married because I'm never gonna do that. I've seen the damage that does. Well, never tell God never. He met a beautiful Christian woman. He got married. But he got married late in life. And then13:38 he said, well, I'm never gonna have children because I know the damage that does. And and then he said, well, actually, she wants children and I I actually do want children. So he's a researcher and he researched what is13:49 the number 1 thing. This is what his greatest question was. What is the number 1 thing to make sure that your children are still in the faith? So he went out and he researched it. When they graduate high school and they13:59 go into the real world, they're still in the faith. And he went out and surveyed hundreds of people. And he came back and he realized there was 1 common denominator for children14:11 who were still in the faith. You wanna know what it was? The children who were raised by Christian parents and were still in the faith later in life had parents who admitted when they were wrong.14:24 Now parents, that does not undermine your authority. You can still be an authority and confess when you've made a mistake as a parent. But your children need to see authenticity. This is this is why I say we14:36 cannot reflect the nature of our world full of problems and pointing fingers. Our homes can be full of problems and pointing fingers. I want you to write this down because this is the theme of14:47 today that I hope you leave with. Health in my relationships depends that should be depends. I'm sorry. That was a mistake on my part. Health in my relationships depends15:00 on my willingness to admit when I'm wrong and forgive when I'm wronged. Because you don't marry a15:12 perfect person. You don't date a perfect person. My grandfather was a preacher for 30 years. You know what he told his grandchildren? Marry somebody whose faults you can live with.15:24 That's that's the only choices you got, by the way. You're just shopping for damaged goods. Young people, listen to me. You're shopping you're shopping for damaged goods.15:37 This these these are tomatoes with a few soft spots, bananas with a few brown spots. And, you know, you might15:49 have caused a couple of them once you get married. But you've got to learn. People are not easy to work with, and neither are you. This is16:01 why Paul says in Colossians, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, what? Say it loudly. Compassionate hearts.16:14 Kindness, humility, meekness, patience. How do I have help? I need you to help me with my relationships, pastor. Put on compassion. Put on humility. Admit when you're wrong.16:26 Don't be the person who's always finding fault. You know who you should find the most fault with? You. You. Then he says bearing. Look at that verse.16:38 Verse 30. Look what he said. Bearing with who? 1 1 another. Oh, Christians are so hard to get along with. Yeah, they are. You know why? They're sinners saved by grace.16:49 I got hurt in my old church. Well, you're gonna get hurt at this 1 too. Just give it enough time. We'll hurt you. I'll say something that offends you.17:01 Well, let's make a change that you don't like. That's life. And you cannot ostracize the people in your life that hurt you. You'll end up all alone. So he says, if anyone has17:13 a complaint against another What is the next line? Forgive. Notice that he doesn't say wait until they say I'm sorry.17:25 And I I wrestled with that. Why does he say wait till they say because we don't wait. And here's why. Because we also cause pain and cause17:37 complaint. And if we had to sit there and go through the catalog of our sins to say, I'm sorry, we'd never have time to get anything else done. So he says, as the Lord has forgiven you, you must forgive17:48 others. But all of this, all of this, the I wanna tell you why it's so important we talk about confession today. Why I'm so glad I'm teaching verse by verse and chapter by chapter through books of the bible now. Because17:59 I have been forced to talk to you on this precious gift that God has given the human race. It's a precious gift. It's called the gift of confession. It's the gift18:11 of saying I was wrong. I made a mistake. I'm a sinner. Good news flash, you don't get into the Christian movement18:22 without confession. It's the only way you're in. The only way in, friend. The only way to come to Christ and to get to heaven is to18:33 admit you are a sinner. You don't come to Christ because he makes you feel better. You don't come to Christ because you want the good life. You don't come to18:45 Christ because you've seen it improve somebody else's life and you want the same improve. You don't come to Christ because you want your marriage fixed. You don't come to Christ because your kids are out of whack and you18:54 need to know how to fix them. You don't come to Christ because you need more money. You come to Christ because you realize that sin has been wrecking your life. Not other people's sins. That's another story. Your19:06 sin has been wrecking your life and you need somebody to heal you and fix you and redeem you and change you. I hammer that19:18 because I I worry with the modern I worry with the modern church that we have absorbed the message of the world. Blame them. Instead of blame you,19:30 look at you, check you, fix this, Lord. I'm the problem with my life. I'm at fault in this marriage. I have a sin nature in me that is19:42 stronger than me and more powerful than me and has been kicking me around for 30 to 40 years, and I am at the end of my rope, and I come to you, Jesus, cause you're the only19:54 1 who can fix who I am. Confession is a gift. Somebody say it. Confession is a gift. Confession a So let's talk about it in 4 points. Write this down. Confession takes time and20:06 intention. You may have never thought about this and and David Wilkerson said this in a message I heard him preach on repentance. He said, the longer I live David Wilkerson was a powerful20:18 preacher, started teen challenge. He says, the longer I live, the more I am starting to realize repentance is not just for the sinners, it's for the saints. Repentance is not just for sinners, it's20:30 for saints. It's not just for the people outside the church, it's for the people inside the church. We're got we gotta take time to confess. That's how this chapter opens. On the 2020:42 fourth day of the month, verse 1, they were assembled with fasting. They put sackcloth. Sackcloth was a very rough fabric, and they did this, you know, to cause themselves to feel uncomfortable, and then they put dust,20:54 earth on their heads. The term sackcloth and ashes, this is where it comes from. And, so this is a visual picture of remorse over our21:06 sin. And then it says, the Israelites separated themselves. Notice that. Underline that word. They separated themselves from foreigners. Now that doesn't mean that you you cut yourself off from every21:17 person, but it does mean that you spend time away from others to work out your salvation with God. Do you do this? If you don't, start21:29 doing it. Some of my prayer time and I gotta be honest with you. I'm preaching to myself today. The Lord challenged me this week. I gotta spend more time intentionally21:41 just reviewing the things that I did this week that I shouldn't have done, to just seek the Lord's forgiveness. And that's what they did here. They confessed the sins, and notice the next21:53 line, and the iniquities of who? Of who? Okay. There's a catchphrase in the modern church movement that doesn't exist in the bible.22:05 Here's what it is. Love, tell me you throw it out. Generational generational curse. I gotta tell you, hate that term. Just gotta be honest with you.22:16 Because I think that generational curse becomes a catch all excuse for why you do what you do. So that you can blame grandpa or dad or mom or22:28 grandma and never own your own failures. Now I say that because there is such a thing as generational iniquity.22:40 It's it started with a guy I don't know if you heard him or heard of him. His name is Adam. He lived a long time ago, and and he cursed us all. He22:51 cursed us all by not leading his wife, by following his wife into sin. He was responsible. Make no mistake, he was responsible in the Garden of Eden, and he was supposed to lead and feed his wife, and instead he followed23:03 her and watched her talk to a snake for a couple hours, and all hell broke loose. And when God shows up to hold them accountable, guess who he calls out first? Adam. What did you do?23:15 What did you do? She's the 1 that did it. He calls him to account. Understand how this works. Now we are all descendants of that couple. We are all descendants, which, by the way, there is23:27 no such thing as a different race than you. Can we just whack a mole with some stupid theology in the that's coming into the church from the world? There's no such thing as different races.23:39 We are all 1 race. Some of us have more melanin in our skin, some of us have less melanin. The sun has a lot to do with it. Where our ancestors lived has a lot to do with it, but we are23:50 all humans. Now why do I emphasize that? Because we are all the same in so many ways. This is the, you know, the problem with, you know, the cut the discussion in the24:02 world about racism is that certain skin colors are worse than other skin colors. That's just another form of let letting someone else take the blame for our faults. We're gonna do24:14 things that hurt each other. We're gonna act in wicked ways no matter our skin color because we all come from Adam. And we've all been cursed with that problem. So we24:26 gotta realize, yes, my dad's made dad made some mistakes and my my mom sinned and my grandma sinned and my grand believe it or not, your granny was a wicked sinner.24:40 I know you thought she was an angel. The only reason why is because you knew her when she was too old and too tired to keep sinning. But she was just as wicked as the24:52 rest of them. Ask your mom. And and so we got a generational iniquity problem. Not a generational curse, generational iniquity25:03 problem. They confessed that that this is I am in a long line of sinners. And then it says, and they stood in the holy in the place and they read from the now notice what produces25:15 repentance. They heard the word, the book of the law for a quarter of the day. That's 6 hours. And then for 6 other hours, they made confession and worshiped the lord. By the way, next25:27 weekend service times are 9 AM and 5 PM and no. I'm kidding. None of us could survive that. Okay. Anyway, but this is a spiritual revival though. This is a spiritual revival.25:39 Can I tell you something? I've studied the revivals of the of the old days. I've studied the revivals in the history of the church. You know that every single 1 of those revivals started with confession of sin. People25:49 just started to get right with God. They just started to realize they were broken and they were they were sinners and they needed help and they had to get over it. They had to conquer their their own inward lust and26:00 flesh and pride and arrogance and they had they needed Jesus to do it. And can I tell you, if you pray for revival, you're praying for the conviction of sin over your life? It starts with revival. That's how revival26:12 start. When you get right with God and you repent and you confess and you say, I need you, Jesus. The bible says in first John 8, 1 8, if we say we have no sin, we what? If you say it's somebody26:23 else's fault, you're lying. If you say it's a generation of curse, that's why I do what I do, you're lying. If you say it's because of the other race and I'm this race, you're lying. You have sinned. I have sinned. You26:35 are looking at a sinner who is saved by grace. You are looking at a flawed man who needs God's grace. And thank God, Jeremiah26:47 said in Lamentations, his mercies are new every single morning. Amen. I'm thankful I got new mercies today because I used the old ones up yesterday.26:59 Amen? Then he says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us. Let me tell you what confession is. This is the biblical term. Write this down. Confession is agreeing with God27:11 about sin. Actually, what what the word in in the Greek language for confession, it means to say the same thing. That's what it means. When we are confessing our sins, we're saying the27:23 same thing about our sin that God says. Let me unpack this for you. God doesn't see gossip as just church talk. God sees27:35 gossip as an attack on the image of God and somebody else. God doesn't see lust as just a secretive desire. He sees it as an27:47 objectifying enslaving force on both the object of the lust and the lustful person. God doesn't just see greed as27:59 ambition. He sees it as an exploitation of your fellow man. You see, when we confess, we are confessing. God, I agree28:11 with you. This is wrong. The reason why some Christians can't get over sin is because they don't con they don't they don't hate what God hates. They don't say, God, I know this is evil.28:23 I want this out. I I declare I need this out. Now that will take some time. No matter who you are, there are besetting sins. The scripture talks about that. Besetting sins that get deep into our heart, and they hurt us,28:34 and they attach to us. And there is a process There's a process by which we, over time, I believe this, are sanctified and and cleansed and washed and set28:46 free from those entanglements. You but the the work you gotta put the work in and you gotta be in the process of confessing, God, I hate this about me. God, I reject this work. I know it's a sin28:58 against you. I know it's a sin against me. I know it's a sin against my fellow man, and I absolutely renounce it in Jesus' name. And I pray for your grace and strength to overcome in the29:10 future. That's what confession is. Now if you really wanna get nuts about confession, You can do what David because the thing about29:22 David, David was a a great sinner. He really was. And his foibles and his faults are recorded in holy scripture. We got all the dirty laundry of David's life right29:34 in this book. Isn't that something? Why is it there? This great this great deliverer of Israel, this great king. You know why it's there? Because he was just like us and God wanted us to have hope. If you've got some29:45 serious issues in your life, good news, you're in good company. David was there. But what made David a great man was he was a great confessor. Psalm 51, Psalm 38, and several other Psalms,29:57 David is just unloading on God all of his sins and all of his wickedness and what made him great. The difference between Saul and David was that when Saul sinned, he blamed others.30:10 Remember some of you don't know the bible this much, but let me just tell you, there was a story where Saul, the first king of Israel, he conquered some king, and God had told him to wipe everybody out and kill the king.30:19 And, that's a that's we we don't want their influence in the in the land, so wipe them all. And Saul doesn't wipe them all out. He spares the king as a as a trophy of war war, and then he takes the sheep and the goats30:30 for himself as spoils of war. And Samuel shows up and says, did you do what the Lord said? And he said, I absolutely have. And David said, then what is this bleeding of sheep in my ears? You should have killed the sheep.30:40 You should have killed the king. Samuel says, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected you. And what the problem was, the reason why God rejected Saul is because when Samuel called him out on30:51 it, Saul said, but the men. The men wanted to. They were waiting. They wanted I I blame them. Now you have a choice today. You can be a Saul or you can be a David.31:04 A Saul blames others, a David says, I'm to blame. And if you wanna get now all that. Back to this. If you wanna get nuts with confession. Psalm 1 on 1 39.31:16 This is a scary prayer. Verse 23. Search me, o God, and know my heart. Try me. Know my thoughts and see if there is any grievous way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting. What is that prayer?31:28 That's, Lord, I think I'm okay, but you know better than I do. So can you just check me out? It's like it's why I avoid the doctor like the plague. Anybody with me on that? I31:40 don't wanna know. You can you can avoid physical pain, but you can't avoid spiritual pain. Confession number 2 reminds us of God's goodness. Write that31:52 down. It remind we don't confess to feel bad about ourselves. No. We confess to know that he's good. And that's the32:03 lion's share of this chapter, and I'm gonna go through this quickly now. Okay? Verse 5, the Levites said, stand up, bless the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. He's exalted. They start to praise God. Confession begins32:14 with, Lord, we praise you for who you are. Verse 6, you are God alone. You are the Lord. You have made heaven, the heavens of heaven, the the earth and all that is in it, the seas and all that is in them. You preserve32:26 all of them, and the host of heaven worships you. And then and I I challenge you to read through this chapter later. I I I just want you to read it for yourself. But verse 7, he called Abraham out and blessed him. Verses32:37 8 to 11, he saved Israel out of slavery. Verse 12, he guided them by day and by night with the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Verse 13 to 14, he gave them the law to instruct them. Verse 15, he gave them the32:48 bread and the water throughout their 40 years of wanderings. This is a great recounting of their faith of God's faithfulness. And and the number 1 used word in the chapter of this book of this of this chap. The number 133:00 used word in the Hebrew in this in this chapter is the word gave. God gave. God gave. God gave. You know what you do? You start to look at all the things that God has given you.33:13 When you start to confess, you start to say, thank you, Lord. All that I am, all the blessings. Thank you, Lord. I got breath in my lungs. If you ever thank God for breath, I thank God. Have you ever thank God that your33:25 limbs work? I just thank God. I thank God that I have an app opportunity to walk things, to walk my dogs, to to to do things with my hand. I thank God for my family. Thank God for the people I got. I thank God for my33:37 church. I thank God for you. All these things. And and what this is it's a chapter that's just unpacked. It starts with creation. It gets to who they are as a people, and it's everything that I am is because of33:49 you. Now notice how the text changes in verse 16. But somebody say, but. But. So all the things that God gave, but they and our fathers acted presumptuously stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.34:01 And and and what we're gonna see is from this moment on, it shows us it shows us that like a roller coaster at 6 flags, the spiritual life of Israel was up and down, up and down, up and down, up and34:13 down. And at the at the days when they absolutely deserved God to to throw them on the ash heap of history, he didn't. Look what it says in verse 18. And when they had made themselves a34:25 golden calf and said, this is your god who brought you out of Egypt and had committed great blasphemies, verse 19, you, in your great mercies, did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of clouds still led them34:35 and did not depart from them nor the pillar of fire. It didn't leave. I I thank God he didn't leave these rebellious people even when they failed to believe to you ever think34:47 about They failed to believe to go into the promised land. They said to God, those place those people are too big. They're too strong for us. And God said, didn't I just wipe out pharaoh for you? Didn't I just plague him34:58 with 10 didn't I just deliver you with a why do you doubt me? Why do you believe me for your past but don't embrace me for your future? And they and they rejected and they failed to believe and God said, okay, you're not35:10 going in. I'm gonna take your children in. And and I love the fact that the bible says he still fed that disbelieving generation. He still watered that disbelieving he still walked with that disbelieving35:22 generation for 40 years. Has anybody experienced God walking with you through decades decades of disobedience? He doesn't leave. He doesn't35:33 forsake. He doesn't give up. Verse 21, 40 years you sustained them in the wilderness and they lack nothing. Their clothes did not wear out. Their feet did not swell. Verse 22. And you gave them kingdoms, and35:45 you allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Shihan and Og and these other kingdom. Can I tell you that God is willing to walk with you35:57 even when you're rebellious? Just won't feel like he's there. He doesn't leave. Jesus said, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake36:08 you. Someone needs to hear that today. I don't know who you are, but someone needs to hear that today. And here's why confession is a gift. Write this down. Number 3, confession is God's path to a comeback.36:20 They're unpacking the ways in which their father sinned and disbelieved and the ways that they failed, And they go on. In verse 26, nevertheless, they were disobedient. They rebelled against you and cast your law behind36:32 their back and killed your prophets who had warned them and told them to turn back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Sometimes we're there. Has36:44 anybody ever has anybody ever disobeyed God when you were told not to? That's what Israel did. And they lived and this is the36:56 amazing thing about God's mercy. Read the bible, you'll see this 400 years. For 400 years, the nation of Israel rebelled against God. And he sent them prophets, and he sent them37:07 deliverers, and he sent them Isaiah, and he sent them Hosea, and he sent them Amos, and Malachi, and hundreds and hundreds of you know that America is only 250 years37:19 old. And some of you and some and sometimes I think at any moment, God is just gonna wipe us out. We're not nearly as bad as I Israel had been. They they did this for 400 years. God was37:30 merciful. You know, the atheist loves to say that the Old Testament God was angry and vengeful. You know why they say that? Because they're ignorant of what the bible actually says. They've never read the bible. They37:41 never studied it. For hundreds and hundreds and before they were even a kingdom, they had the 400 years of of, the judges and the pre monarchy, and they were rebellious then. Anybody ever heard of the book of judges?37:53 A dark period of Israel says they rebelled and God saved and rebelled. Cycle of disobedience and obedience and disobedience and obedience. Verse 27, that's what it says. Look what it says here. The you gave them into the38:03 hand of their enemies. They made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering, they cried out to you, and they and and you heard from heaven. And according to your great mercies, you gave them saviors who'd saved them38:12 from the hand of their enemies. You see this cycle play out in Israel's history again and again. It's a cycle, friend. It's and and it's a cycle for our country. We have good times. We get lazy, spiritually lax. We get38:24 bad times, we turn back to God. God saves us, forgives us, redeems us, brings us back up. Guess what happens? We get to good times, we get lazy, it happens nationally. I was in the ministry on 938:36 11. I was in the church, not on just 9 11, but I was in the church on 9 16 2001. 9 16 2001 was Sunday morning after 9 11. Can I tell you the church was38:48 packed? Churches across the country packed. I was in the church after the 2008 financial crash, and the church was packed. People coming out saying, where's God? The money's not there.39:00 I need something else. And now I see COVID is over, and the last 5 years of frenzy have passed. And I see the church growing again, and people are hungry for God again. But can I tell you, we gotta be warnedShow more
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