Mercy You Didn't Earn

Transcript

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[0:00] Our sermon text is from Ezekiel 36. And of course, before we get to that, a little bit of introduction. We're on the second half now of our eight-week sermon series called Rescue the Bible in Eight Weeks. Real quick, here's the plan. We started with the creation, then the fall, then the promised land, and last week, the promised King. This week, we're talking about exile and return, very big topic. And then the life of Jesus, Pentecost, and the church, that's the second to last. And the final one is the future hope, which will be about the book of Revelation. And I'm not going to sort of rehash everything that we've gone through.

[0:47] But one thing that we notice, and I've kind of brought it up a few times, is that there's all these moments. There's moments in the history of Israel, starting with the time right before Moses, also right before the giving of the law, where the people were starting to worship a calf, I mean, a golden calf, right at the end of Judges, where everybody did what was okay in their own sight. And then here, from our first reading that Adele read, where God was giving Ezekiel a tour of just how depraved the worship of God had become. And there's these moments in the cusp of history where really human conduct has sort of plummeted. And that's what sort of drives the story to the next chapter, where God then does a new thing and moves things along. And I think it's right when God kind of says, okay, that wasn't working. I tried, but you failed. Okay, it's really important. We always talk about that. God tries, but we fail. I tried, but you failed. So now I'm going to come with something else that I hope will work. And if you're getting tired of this, you know, and I am too, so was God, much more so. But I guarantee you, after this trying and failing, we will next week, when we talk about Jesus, get to the point where the thing that is tried actually works and is still working.

[2:14] So praise God for that. You know how we say, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. God's nicer. He's like, fool me once, twice, three times, four times, shame on me, you know. But he's like, it's almost like he's somebody who doesn't learn. But it's because of his covenant love for us that he actually is far more patient than we are. Praise God for that.

[2:41] So we're going to learn today about sort of one of the most pivotal timeframes for God's people. They were brought out into exile. I'm going to talk about that in just a second. And that time of exile prepared them for so many things. That God needed to do in their hearts. So they don't actually work this way, you know, giving a child a timeout, you know, seems like a good idea. I guess it's not a good idea. I don't really know. I know, don't ask me. But theoretically, if a child is in timeout, it's a rich time for them, because they can think about what they did. Do they really do that? I never did. I don't know. Yeah, it doesn't work. See, Jenny knows, right?

[3:16] But that's the, that's the dream. And so this timeout, sort of in the land, as a nation, it was actual. It was actually productive for them. They thought about it. They developed their worship. And they developed the scriptures as we have them. So we really owe that this time of exile was really important and formative for the people of God. But let me give us a quick reminder of the history from last week to now that kind of gets us to this point. So remember from last time, the people asked for a king, the northern, and that did not really work. We had King Saul, who started off pretty good, but ended up being kind of, you know, a little bit of a bad king. Kind of, actually a very bad king. King David was anointed king during the reign of Saul. That led to a civil war, of course. And then David didn't do much better. He's counted as one of the better kings. He had all sorts of problems. His children had all sorts of problems. And it was just within those few generations that the whole thing actually fell apart. And the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom broke off from each other. So we had two kingdoms. And they at times fought each other. At times, they probably had some. Some alliances with each other.

[4:24] And there's this long litany of very bad kings in both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom who lead the people into idolatry. As Jeremiah put it last time, it's like shepherds leading the sheep astray. And God has a higher standard of responsibility for those who are in charge. So the king, if there's somebody, and Jesus says this too, woe to anybody who leads one of these little ones astray. It'd be better for a millstone to be, you know, tied around the wall. And if they were to be tied around their neck, and they'd be thrown into the lake. So there's this really strong sense that God is mad at these kings because they are, with their own conduct and their own idolatry, are leading the rest of the people into idolatry. If they were loyal to God and faithful and worshiped God alone, there's no guarantee that all the people would have done it. But they are the ones that lead by example. And especially as the world was back then, it was a lot more, I guess you could say, a little more tribal, a lot more sort of communal. And so if the king did a thing, then everybody said, oh, that's the thing we should do. So if the king goes into idolatry, it's, it's, it had a huge follow-on effect in the rest

[5:32] of society. So there was only one outcome from all this really moral and political decay. There was political problems, alliances with other countries that didn't work. And the outcome was that God would remove his protection from them and allowed them to be conquered by larger and more powerful nations. And the very last verse of what Adele read, was it said that the Shekinah, which is very interesting Hebrew word, the, the presence, the holy presence of God, actually lifted itself up and out of the temple, where it was resting over the Holy of Holies. Interesting. It got up, and it left, and it went above the mountains, and then from there, it traveled on somewhere else, because God says, I cannot be in the presence of these people, and as he said, they're detestable sins. And with that, with that removal of God's presence, there's also the removal of God's protection. And so in the eighth century BC, the Northern Kingdom was basically destroyed by what we call the Assyrian Empire. And the people were scattered. They never developed a cohesive ethnic identity in their diaspora. And so they basically disappeared by being, either by dying or by being absorbed.

[6:56] Each left left left left left left we don't agree with that, you know, so there are differences between us and the Latter-day Saints. We don't believe that. We believe that with the historians and the archaeologists that they basically disappeared, and that's tragic. So full, you know, 10 out of the 12 tribes of Israel are theoretically basically gone and did not carry their worship or their heritage with them. Now, the southern kingdom was a little more faithful. It has some good kings like King Josiah, it held out for more than a century after that. It eventually fell to the Babylonian Empire in 586 BC. Now, interesting thing about empires is the Assyrian Empire looked unbeatable. It looked really powerful, but they were so cruel to everybody that there was an internal rebellion from the southern part of the Assyrian Empire around Babylon, and it was just kind of destroyed from within, and that became, the whole thing then became the Babylonian Empire. And they picked up where the Assyrians left off and said, we're going to march our way down the east coast of... or... the... the... the... eastern side of the Mediterranean... and... we're going to finish what the Assyrians were not able to finish... and... we're going to take... the... southern...

[8:27] kingdom... next... and... that... It... took... time... It... took... It... took... a... while... all... that... internal... turmoil in Assyria and Babylon kind of gave a breathing spell, but eventually they did come. And so it was the Babylonians that conquered the southern kingdom. And the people, most of them, or a lot of them, were carried off into captivity. So that's where we're talking today, is exile. They're exiled from their own land. They're being held in captivity in a foreign land. And so we get readings like Psalm 137, where there is a beautiful psalm, also a haunting psalm, and we didn't finish it. You can finish it at home if you want to have a nightmare. But, you know, like a lot of things with the Bible. And it says, you know, our captors demanded a song from us. Sing us a song of your old, you know, of your old land. We love to kind of want to mock you because we conquered you. And they're like, how can we sing? And we hang up our harp, we hang our harps up on the pop. Or the willows. If you've seen Jesus Christ Superstar, there's a whole musical set about that, which are kind of interesting, right? Except they sing it with a bunch of smiles. It doesn't make any sense. I don't think they really understood it. They're too sad to sing. So this is the context.

[9:44] The people are in a foreign land. They know they're there because they deserve it. And they're wondering if they can ever go home. So that's kind of the sort of getting to where we are now. And we're reading actually from the same book, Ezekiel 36, the same book that has got where God says, I'm done with these people! I'm leaving! Here we are now! About 17 chapters later! And God says this! So let's go ahead! And hear! This! From! Ezekiel! 36! God! Says! This! Therefore! Give! The! People! Of! Israel!! This! Message! From! The! Sovereign! Lord!

[10:17] I! Am! Bringing! You! Back! But! Not! Because! you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is, the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord. Remember, God is always trying to bless all the nations through his people. For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away and you will no longer worship idols and I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations and you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people and I will be your God. I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops of grain and I will send no more famines on the land. I will give you great harvests

[11:44] from your fruit trees and fields and never again will the surrounding nations be able to take you away from your land. I will give you a new spirit and you will be left plain view of everyone will again be farmed. And when I bring you back, people will say, this former wasteland is now like the Garden of Eden. The abandoned and ruined cities now have strong walls and are filled with people. Then the surrounding nations that survive will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted the wasteland. For I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I say." Well, let's pray.

[12:50] Well, Lord, thank You for this word of hope, and we ask that You add Your blessing to it. Amen. Well, the text today is a bit… when you think about our first text today, I want to talk about that real quickly, go back to what Adele read. It's a bit fragmented. God gave up. He leaves the temple. He heads away into the sky.

[13:20] And then we go… we get the sense that, okay, now He's ready to come back. Some 17, 18 chapters later, God's wanting to rescue His people. And did you notice a few times that it wasn't all praise? Did you get that part? It was mixed. You know, I want to bring you back, but not because… I want to bring you back, but not because you deserve it, you know? Hint on Mother's Day, like, we don't parent our children this way, but God can do it, you know, like, we don't say things like that to our kids, but God, you know, this is what it is. He just can't lie. It is against His nature to tell a lie, and so, if He's really doing it for this reason, He's not going to just sort of try to sweet talk these people in some fake way, like, He's not saying, I'm not going to I'm rescuing you because you've done pretty good out there, and I'm ready to reward you. He's saying, no, you've served your time, yes, you've made a lot of mistakes, even while you were scattered among the nations, evidently you made some mistakes. I'm going to bring you back, not because you deserve it or because you've gotten that much better, you actually haven't. I'm doing it because I still have a plan to bless the whole world through you. So,

[14:38] I'm going to show you mercy that you don't deserve. What does that sound like? Remember, what Christians always talk about is grace, is undeserved favor and love from God. I'm going to give you mercy that you don't deserve, and the other nations are going to see that, and they're going to say, wow, what a God is that? Very different from our gods. Our gods are all very transactional, our gods are all very vengeful. This God forgives His people, and gives them, actually gives them a way to keep, to keep the law that He asked them to keep, but they can't keep! And then we have this beautiful section! And I know you heard it! It's in the middle! It actually sounds better in other translations! But we'll stick with the NLT! In this case!

[15:24] There's this tenderness! Tenderness! And! Love! It's a mixture! How can God speak this way? But! He! Does! He! has! This! Stern! Voice! And! This! Loving! Tender! Voice! And! It! Is! The! Same! Voice! And! I! Don! Know! How! To! Do! That!! Each! You don't deserve it. And in the very next voice, he says, the very next sentence, he says, and I'm going to give you a new heart.

[15:50] I'm going to put my new spirit in you. I'll take out your hearts of stone, and I'm going to give you tender, responsive hearts. And I'm going to put my spirit in you. This is the important thing. I'm going to put my spirit in you. Why? It says here, so that you will follow my laws, my decrees, and be careful to obey my regulations. And this is a good point to remember. This is in the long sort of scope of history that we're always talking about here, that God always is planning the next step. So even in the garden, when Adam and Eve fell, God had the next step planned. He gave them some clothes to cover. He gave them some clothes to cover. He gave them some clothes to cover. So that they would be protected as they went out. He even talked in some sort of opaque ways about the coming of Jesus way back in Genesis chapter 3. It's really interesting. God always has a plan, and the plan here is, okay, you're coming back. You've been detestable sinners. We've got a lot of problems. I still have a lot of yelling to do left in the next few verses. I'm not done yelling at you, but I love you. Somehow he does this. And I still have a plan, and here's the plan. The law, as good as it is, as much life as it gives, it works for me, but it doesn't work for you.

[17:11] You're not able to keep it. So I'm going to give you a way where you can keep the law. And that way is through giving his people the spirit. And so just imagine when the apostle Paul was, you know, he knew that salvation was by grace alone and that it was the spirit that enabled us to do good works. He was dusting off Ezekiel one day, and he's like, what? Or actually, he probably had it memorized, you know, because he was a Pharisee in a good way. I mean, we always think of a Pharisee as somebody who actually was very religiously, you know, knew the Bible really well, right? So it's always a mistake to always put Pharisees in the negative light. They were actually, they loved God, and they knew the word. So the apostle Paul was, oh, yeah, and Ezekiel, when he promised to bring them back, he also said he'd give them a way to keep the law, and it would be by the spirit. Not by their own ability, not by their own willpower.

[18:08] Does willpower work? Sometimes, I mean. The 12-step, this 12-step group says willpower alone is not enough. For them, they say, and this is smart, they say we need a higher power. We need a power greater than ourselves to stop drinking or to stay sober.

[18:35] And do you guys like Nutella? I love Nutella. I love a Nutella. Waffles. I love candy. I love chocolate bars. I'm going to tell you, willpower is not enough. Willpower is never enough. I need a higher power to stay away from that stuff.

[18:59] And I can just hear God, you know, saying to me, I'm going to rescue you from Nutella, even though you don't deserve it. You don't. And you can't stay away from Nutella on your own power, but I'll give you the spirit. So maybe I need the spirit to help me stay away from Nutella. I don't know. Probably not. That's taking a little too far.

[19:23] So, this is an important thing. This is amazing, that even here, God has a plan. I'm bringing you back, and the plan is, the law is actually going to start working for you, but not by your own power. Some Christians, we have to talk about this, unfortunately, give off the vibe that they're more righteous because they are Christians. And they're more righteous because they are Christians. And they look down on other people. Have you met any Christians like this? You might have. Have you been a Christian like this? You might have. I know I was, and maybe still am. But this is a huge misunderstanding of Scripture, because a Christian is actually a person who finally understands what God wants. understands that they can never be good on their own, that they can never bear up under Nutella or whatever it is, right? And in fact, they're totally corrupt. A Christian actually understands their own depravity. They understand their own limitation, their own inability to keep the law and be good at all. And they understand that it's only God that makes them right and it's only the Holy Spirit that helps them actually keep the laws that give life. So a true Christian is the most humble of all persons. A true Christian is actually the most humble person because the only thing that could

[20:43] make us remotely proud of ourselves is that we heard the good news and we believed it, not that we did anything good. And that way, if we live that way, it should be utterly delightful to meet a true Christian. They should be the most down-to-earth and lovable person there is because they're not putting on any airs at all. And I think this is our biggest challenge of Christianity in this country is for Christians to be more approachable like that, like as live as people who say, I'm broken, I'm a fallen sinner, it's only by the grace of God that I'm saved and I'm righteous. And if I've done anything good, it wasn't me doing it. It was the Spirit working through me because I surrendered to the power of the Spirit and let him work through me. And people like that, they're not going to be able to do that. They're not going to be able to do that. They're not going to be able to do that. They're not going to be able to do that. They're not going to be able to do that. And that would be such a delight to be around. They really would. And they are. And I'll tell you this. I'm sorry Craig and Karen aren't here, but I think of many people when I think of this, but the person I think of almost the most is Stan Eklund. And you can overpraise somebody, everybody.

[21:50] He was a sinner, just like the rest of us. But somehow he had this, he was a brilliant person, but he had this humble demeanor. It just felt like the Spirit was most of the time working through him. And that's, that to be around people like that is so delightful and also so good for us because it kind of, we drive, it drives us to say, all right, this, they have something, right? So this is God's plan. I'm going to bring you back from exile, but it's not because you deserve it. And it's not because it's your turn or you deserve the land or any of that. I'm doing it because I have a plan. I'm doing it because I have a plan. I'm doing it because I have a plan. I have a plan for you so that you can learn to keep the law with my power, but I have a plan for the world. The original promise to Abraham is still there. All the nations will be blessed through you. If we ever lose sight of that, we have a real problem that God's, God's purpose in having a special people was not that they could just be special and enjoy their specialists by themselves and have a party and not invite anybody. God wanted a special people so that all the world could be blessed and see God through him so that basically our light would shine, so shine before others that they would see their father in heaven,

[23:10] right? So let's think about the people though. And this is tough. There they were, their captors were asking them to sing songs. They were hanging up their harps on the willows and they were saying to themselves, are we ever going to go home? You know, Ezekiel says, yes, you are going to go home, but in the end, you're going to go home. And so they're going to go home. And so they're going to go home. And so they're going to go home. And so they're going to go home. And so they're going to go home. And so they're going to go home. And so they're going to go home. And in the midst of it for 70 years, they were there going, what are we, when do we get to go home? Is this our permanent home now? Do we just have to resign ourselves at the fact that here we are in a different land? What are we supposed to do? And after 70 years, the answer comes Ezekiel and other places, Isaiah, you'll find it. The answer is yes, I'm going to bring you home. Okay. And so this return marks another phase in God's plan to rescue his people. And it lays the foundation for the coming of Jesus where God will make a difference. And so this return marks another phase in God's plan to rescue his people. And it lays the foundation for the coming of Jesus where God will make, God will now make,

[24:00] this is the idea of the sacrifice. God will make them righteous with his own sacrifice and they'll keep the law by the power of the spirit. So God's, these moments, these cusp of history moments in right before the flood, at the end of judges, right before the law is given. And here, there are these things that move this story forward. And now God says, okay, you've been in exile, but that time has passed 70 years. Enough time for anyone who was really alive when all that happened to more or less have passed away. And that's a few, some people, few people might be alive. It's like a sort of a cleansing of the nation. Now this whole new generation of people are, can be brought back. And so the people do go home. We're not going to cover that today. You can read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. They give all the details of how they went back and they rebuilt their country. And it's great stuff. It's really good. So that's the more of the nuts and bolts of how they got home.

[24:58] We're ending the Old Testament of five sermons on the Old Testament, three sermons on the New Testament. And here's where we land as we put ourselves in the shoes of God's people. And I want us to think of it this way. And there's some times where I feel more this way than others, but they were living in a land that wasn't their true home. They were longing for their real home. And I think there's some value in that for us, at least thinking that way. Now you are home, especially if you own land, right? If you own land, you have this little piece of the earth that somehow by some legal convention is actually yours. Whether it will always be that way, I don't know. So yes, you have a home. Do you have a home? You have the walls. You know, you do the landscaping. Anything you do in your house, like painting the walls, it makes it feel like more like your home, right? This is our home. This is our home.

[25:56] But some how as Christians, I do also think we need to feel like we're not home, like this isn't our true home, that we are sort of what is in some sort of captivity and exile, like this isn't our true home. This is our home for now, but our true home is in the kingdom of God, and it doesn't actually have a physical location in quite the same way, and it transcends time in all sorts of important ways, and so our true home, we need to feel like we're not home, like this isn't our true home, like we're not left The true world is actually the kingdom of God, and that's our true home. And there's this time, about 70 years, where we have to live in this world before we fully get to live in the other one. But we're also living in both always at the same time. There's a lot of things going on here. We can talk about it more some other day. But the idea is we want to be comfortable here, but not too comfortable. We want to make a place here. We want to influence people here. But we also realize that we don't fully belong here. And the other side of that is that we then don't take on all the trappings and all the habits and all the realities of this world. Because on some level, they are corrupt. And we don't want to be corrupted by them.

[27:38] But we have to live in the middle of them. Okay? So what does God say to his people? This is Jeremiah 29. I want to read this. It's a little bit longer, but I want you to read. I want you to listen for it. You'll hear. There's something. You'll hear a very familiar verse. And you'll probably hear that this is a verse that's really for a whole nation. It's not for an individual. So it's a good thing to remember. This is from Jeremiah 29, verse 4. And this is God addressing the people at the beginning of their captivity. Saying, this is how I want you to live while you are in the home that's not your home. And this is what I think God is saying to us as Christians. How do we deal with exile and return? We hope for the return. But we have to do. We have to do something while we are also in exile. So this is what God says. Jeremiah 29, verse 4. This is what the Lord of heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives. He has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem. Or all the exiles in Silicon Valley. Okay? Build homes and plan to stay.

[28:40] Plant gardens and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Don't give up on life. Then find spouses for them, so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply, do not dwindle away, and work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.

[29:11] This is what the Lord says. You will be in Babylon for 70 years, but then I will come and do for you all the good things, I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you, says the Lord. I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you, and will bring you home again. To your own. Land.

[29:50] So let's stop there. I think it's a good place to stop. This is where we live as Christians. We have to identify with God's people where they were in exile. And live in the exile that we're in, but also live in the reality of the real kingdom we're in, and hope for this sort of return from exile. And God is good. And I would also be remiss if I didn't say that, even in this, God always has a plan. And God's plan for us is the church is the plan. And God's plan is that the world would be blessed through us. So we cannot keep it to ourselves. We cannot have a party just for ourselves. We have to live in such a way that God's light shines through us to everyone else. All right, let's pray.

[30:30] Lord, thank you again for history, for this book, for your faithfulness to bring your people home, but also your brutal honesty about why we are in exile. Lord, help us be a light to the nations as you told us to be. Amen.