back to indexOur Infamous Sin & God's Pity
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I would like to welcome all of you to today's service. 00:12:39.340 |
And if you are visiting us for the very first time, 00:12:44.340 |
Please, after the service, be sure to visit with us 00:12:47.340 |
at our welcome booth, the blue canopy you saw 00:12:53.340 |
I do have a good number of announcements just to cover. 00:13:01.340 |
that our all-church retreat is taking place in the summer 00:13:07.340 |
Make sure you just mark off those calendar dates. 00:13:10.340 |
And we did send out this, like, initially we wanted to have 00:13:16.340 |
an interest sign-up so that we know exactly how many people to expect, 00:13:19.340 |
but we're essentially able to finalize our costs. 00:13:25.340 |
And so hold off on signing up for that interest thing, 00:13:28.340 |
'cause next week what we're gonna do is just open up early registration. 00:13:32.340 |
For those of you guys who have already filled one form, 00:13:36.340 |
Next week, we're gonna make sure that we just open up early registration 00:13:40.340 |
and have the cost point for everybody to see. 00:13:44.340 |
Secondly, concerning Easter, you should have received-- 00:13:56.340 |
Please be sure to take the opportunity where the whole week 00:14:00.340 |
we're gonna be recounting the events of history, 00:14:03.340 |
the work of Christ leading up to his sacrifice and resurrection. 00:14:08.340 |
It is a great opportunity for us to invite our friends and family 00:14:15.340 |
We will also make digital format available online. 00:14:19.340 |
Please also just for your own participation in these events, 00:14:24.340 |
take note of the entire schedule for the week. 00:14:27.340 |
One of the things I want to highlight is the Passover. 00:14:30.340 |
This year it's gonna be a little earlier in the day at 6:30 p.m., 00:14:35.340 |
and we will be reenacting the Passover meal that was instituted by God 00:14:44.340 |
and the coming of the Messiah who would fulfill that. 00:14:47.340 |
It's a sweet time of walking through the various elements that point to Jesus, 00:14:52.340 |
and it's a great opportunity especially for young families 00:14:54.340 |
and people who haven't participated before to come and enjoy that. 00:14:59.340 |
So the link is gonna be online and on the app. 00:15:03.340 |
For those of you who have been at our church or newer 00:15:13.340 |
and that class is eight weeks long and will start from 9 a.m. till 1020. 00:15:19.340 |
That sign-up link is, again, online on our web app and more. 00:15:24.340 |
And if you have any questions, please email Pastor Nathan. 00:15:28.340 |
The last thing I want to mention is that next week on the 26th, 00:15:35.340 |
we're gonna have a visit from one of the IMB missionaries. 00:15:38.340 |
Her name is Darlene Hu who has been serving abroad for over 15 years. 00:15:43.340 |
And so I know some of you have interest in doing overseas missions. 00:15:50.340 |
This is essentially an informal meet-and-greet 00:15:59.340 |
We're gonna send out email for details, et cetera. 00:16:04.340 |
you can head over there to participate in that. 00:16:11.340 |
we're gonna be having our brother Daniel come up, give his testimony, and be baptized. 00:16:17.340 |
For right now, if you have a physical offering you would like to submit, 00:16:24.340 |
Otherwise, we can submit our offering in the digital format. 00:16:32.340 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for your grace and mercies. 00:16:37.340 |
God, truly what privilege it is for us to gather in your name. 00:16:42.340 |
Lord, we recognize that you make all this possible. 00:16:46.340 |
It is through your Son that for all of us coming from different walks of life, 00:16:51.340 |
different life circumstances, have been brought underneath the love of Christ. 00:16:56.340 |
And so, Lord, we want to join our hearts for you. 00:17:00.340 |
We want to sing, Lord God, expressing our gratitude towards you. 00:17:04.340 |
And we pray that in all of this, you would be honored. 00:17:06.340 |
I pray that even in our offering, as we express our dedication, 00:17:13.340 |
Lord, help us not to simply offer up just the finance, 00:17:17.340 |
our hearts, our love, and our affection for you. 00:17:21.340 |
We thank you, God, it's in Christ's name. Amen. 00:18:40.340 |
Come praise and glorify our God, the Father of our Lord. 00:18:47.340 |
In Christ He has in heavenly realms His blessings on us poured. 00:18:56.340 |
For pure and blameless in His sight He destined us to be. 00:19:03.340 |
And now we've been adopted through His Son eternally. 00:19:13.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace. 00:19:22.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, You are the God who saves. 00:19:31.340 |
Come praise and glorify our God, who gives His grace in Christ. 00:19:43.340 |
In Him our sins are washed away, redeemed through sacrifice. 00:19:52.340 |
In Him God has made known to us the mystery of His will. 00:19:59.340 |
That Christ should be the head of all this purpose to fulfill. 00:20:09.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace. 00:20:18.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, You are the God who saves. 00:20:25.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace. 00:20:33.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, You are the God who saves. 00:20:42.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, You are the God who saves. 00:20:47.340 |
Come praise and glorify our God, for we believe the Word. 00:20:55.340 |
And through our faith we have a seal, the Spirit of the Lord. 00:21:03.340 |
The Spirit guarantees our hope until redemption's done. 00:21:12.340 |
Until we join in endless praise to God the Three in One. 00:21:20.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace. 00:21:29.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, You are the God who saves. 00:21:38.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, to the praise of Your mercy and grace. 00:21:45.340 |
To the praise of Your glory, You are the God who saves. 00:22:26.340 |
I will glory in my Redeemer, whose priceless blood has ransomed me. 00:22:36.340 |
Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails and hung Him on that judgment tree. 00:22:48.340 |
I will glory in my Redeemer, who crushed the power of sin and death. 00:23:30.340 |
I will glory in my Redeemer, my life He bought, my love He owes. 00:23:42.340 |
I have no longings for another. I'm satisfied in Him alone. 00:23:52.340 |
I will glory in my Redeemer, His faithfulness my standing place. 00:24:35.340 |
I will glory in my Redeemer, who carries me on eagles' wings. 00:24:57.340 |
I will glory in my Redeemer, who waits for me at gates of gold. 00:25:57.340 |
Hello, my name is Daniel Jong and I'm a fourth year UCI student majoring in computer engineering. 00:26:04.340 |
And just like many other Christians, I grew up in the church and have been attending it for as long as I can remember. 00:26:12.340 |
I found out while I knew of God, I never had the desire to grow in a relationship with Him. 00:26:16.340 |
I vividly remember reading the Gospels every year, but not being moved at all each time I read it. 00:26:22.340 |
I questioned how the Bible and ultimately God could play a role in my life and my pursuits. 00:26:27.340 |
And as a result, I refused to surrender my desires and passions to Him. 00:26:31.340 |
Despite my regular church attendance, I lived a double life. 00:26:35.340 |
When Monday came, academics and my hobbies were my main priority throughout the week. 00:26:41.340 |
By the time I arrived, I was back in church mode, acting like a Christian, since that was what everyone around me was doing. 00:26:46.340 |
At the time, I considered myself a believer since I attended church and knew the teachings, 00:26:51.340 |
but looking back, I lived a very self-centered and worldly life. 00:26:54.340 |
My obsession for my hobbies and focus on academics were at its peak in my senior year of high school. 00:27:00.340 |
Playing games competitively and running cross-country and track was how I spent most of my time. 00:27:06.340 |
I remember that getting into a prestigious college was also on my mind. 00:27:11.340 |
It was really stressed upon by my parents, but also especially by myself, 00:27:15.340 |
because at the time, college felt like my ultimate objective. 00:27:18.340 |
Once I got there, I could do whatever I pleased and create my own life in these first steps of adulthood. 00:27:25.340 |
The life I envisioned for myself was traveling every weekend to play games competitively, 00:27:29.340 |
going to parties to socialize, and living the college lifestyle that's so romanticized and glorified by the world. 00:27:35.340 |
However, when college students came out, my entire world shattered, 00:27:39.340 |
and I did not get admitted into a single college I applied to. 00:27:43.340 |
I thought I had failed my parents and myself, and I just didn't see the point in life anymore. 00:27:47.340 |
Over the summer, right before community college, I reflected on these past 18 years of life that I had lived. 00:27:53.340 |
Shame and regret burned in my heart, and for many weeks, 00:27:56.340 |
there was dissatisfaction with how everything played out in my academic career. 00:28:01.340 |
But one day, that's when I questioned myself. 00:28:05.340 |
I prayed to God earnestly for the first time, 00:28:08.340 |
unlike the other times I asked him to help me do well on track races or test scores. 00:28:12.340 |
In this time of prayer, he revealed all of the sin I had been living in, 00:28:16.340 |
my sinful desire to pursue a life of selfishness and self-idolization. 00:28:20.340 |
In my sin and pride, I chose not to follow God, but instead myself. 00:28:25.340 |
And just as it says in Romans 125, "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, 00:28:31.340 |
and they worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator." 00:28:34.340 |
When I reread the gospel in this time of prayer, his truth became absolutely clear to me, 00:28:39.340 |
and I could see God's mercy and grace for a sinner such as myself. 00:28:43.340 |
At the end of the prayer, I came to a place of surrender, 00:28:46.340 |
laying down my future, career, hopes, and dreams. 00:28:50.340 |
I was finished chasing after things of the world, 00:28:53.340 |
but instead looking to find a new life in Christ. 00:28:56.340 |
Since then, I had the opportunity to go to community college 00:29:02.340 |
In these past four years of academic, mental, and spiritual trials, 00:29:06.340 |
he has been there every step of the way, and showed his mercy, grace, and love. 00:29:10.340 |
As I continue my studies at UCI, and hopefully find a job in tech, 00:29:14.340 |
I am reminded that I am saved by the grace of God. 00:29:17.340 |
And instead of racing to find success, the true prize at the end is Christ, 00:29:23.340 |
The verse I am reminded of is Hebrews 12, 1-2. 00:29:27.340 |
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, 00:29:30.340 |
let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, 00:29:34.340 |
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 00:29:37.340 |
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, 00:29:41.340 |
who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, 00:29:45.340 |
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:29:48.340 |
This concludes my testimony, and thank you for listening. 00:30:25.340 |
Now, as we baptize you, do you understand that this symbolizes your union with Christ, 00:30:32.340 |
but also symbolizes your union with Christ in his resurrected life? 00:30:37.340 |
I baptize you in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 00:31:06.340 |
It is always such an encouragement. Thank you for the testimony. 00:31:11.340 |
We hear lots of different stories of how an individual comes to a saving knowledge of the Lord. 00:31:20.340 |
We're always grateful to hear of individuals who grew up in a Christian home, 00:31:24.340 |
and get introduced to the truths of Christ, the words of Scripture. 00:31:29.340 |
But we're reminded that every single individual has to have a personal conviction of their own sin, 00:31:39.340 |
And it's such a powerful moment of fellowship for us whenever we hear that. 00:31:42.340 |
So, what a net of finding encouragement that is. 00:31:45.340 |
Please take your Bibles now, go to the book of Judges, chapter 1. 00:31:50.340 |
And we're going to read the first three verses. 00:32:10.340 |
that the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, 00:32:14.340 |
"Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?" 00:32:19.340 |
And the Lord said, "Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand." 00:32:25.340 |
Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into the territory allotted me, 00:32:35.340 |
And I, in turn, will go with you into the territory allotted to you." 00:32:43.340 |
Lord our God, we want to thank you for your precious word. 00:32:48.340 |
God, we are so grateful for your mercy that abounds to us, 00:32:53.340 |
and God, that you give to us your grace on a daily basis. 00:32:57.340 |
And each Sunday, God, you give us the conviction from your word. 00:33:05.340 |
and to continue to subject our minds and our hearts, 00:33:08.340 |
so that God, it would be washed by the purity of your word. 00:33:11.340 |
We thank you this day. It's in Christ's name. Amen. 00:33:19.340 |
Well, I got actually pretty sick Monday of this week, 00:33:25.340 |
And I don't know why, but for the last several years, 00:33:32.340 |
where I just get sick, and whatever everybody has, I just get, you know. 00:33:55.340 |
"What's going on around the world in terms of flu?" 00:34:02.340 |
And, oh my goodness, they're on research mode. Okay? 00:34:05.340 |
And sometimes that's bad, because internet oftentimes makes you 00:34:08.340 |
go down this spiral of everything can be cancer, da-da-da-da-da, you know? 00:34:16.340 |
You're sick, and you say, "This too shall pass. 00:34:20.340 |
It's a little inconvenience. I'm going to be sick for a week. 00:34:27.340 |
So, whatever. I don't even need to pay attention. 00:34:35.340 |
And then if you end up needing to even go to the hospital 00:34:40.340 |
"Hey, you have this, like a minor acute bronchitis thing." 00:34:45.340 |
And they give you oftentimes a little pamphlet, right? 00:34:48.340 |
They always give you some information on the medication you have to take 00:34:56.340 |
you say, "Thank you," and then you throw it in the back of your seat, 00:35:00.340 |
And the reason why I bring this up is because 00:35:05.340 |
"Is this sometimes our attitude towards sin?" 00:35:17.340 |
or a flu or maybe an acute case of bronchitis or something. 00:35:34.340 |
Yes, I get the pamphlet, but you throw it behind. 00:35:37.340 |
You're a horrible patient. Doctor says rest, but you won't. 00:35:42.340 |
And the thing about it is the older and older you get 00:35:45.340 |
and the more years go by where you have infirmities, illnesses, 00:35:52.340 |
your attitude towards sin can be like in kind. 00:35:59.340 |
But that is not the way the Scripture presents to us what sin is. 00:36:04.340 |
And unfortunately, this book in the book of Judges 00:36:08.340 |
radically presents to us the incredible destructive danger of sin. 00:36:20.340 |
I preached from the book of Joshua because that was my devotions. 00:36:24.340 |
And in that sermon I said, "Wow, what an incredible moment of decision for the nation." 00:36:33.340 |
They were in victory conquest mode and they were saying, "Oh, we're going to serve the Lord." 00:36:42.340 |
You're going to be faced with temptation and sin. 00:36:47.340 |
And God wanted His people to be so sober and realize this is how dangerous sin is. 00:36:54.340 |
In the New Testament, Romans chapter 7, Scripture tells to us in order for us to really get it, 00:37:00.340 |
that sin is so serious, God gave us the law so that sin would be utterly sinful. 00:37:09.340 |
And what's more, when our Lord Jesus, He arrived on scene, 00:37:17.340 |
in the hearing of many He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick." 00:37:26.340 |
And He explicitly said, "I have not come for the righteous, but for sinners." 00:37:31.340 |
So it is strange to us, right, that we do live in a generation 00:37:37.340 |
where there are those opposed to talking about sin. 00:37:40.340 |
There are those who are opposed to looking deep into the inner workings of sin, 00:37:45.340 |
both in our mental space, in our heart space, in our desires, in our patterns, our habits, our actions, and our history. 00:37:54.340 |
But for Christians, actually, we're different. 00:37:59.340 |
Because we want to be good patients of the great physician. 00:38:08.340 |
We're going to take a good look, and that's what we're doing this morning. 00:38:11.340 |
We're going to take an extended look at the depth of our sin 00:38:15.340 |
as presented to us in this narrative and story of the book of Judges. 00:38:27.340 |
Repetitive nature of the book of Judges is that there's 12 cycles of sin. 00:38:32.340 |
And what's more, each cycle gets worse and worse. 00:38:35.340 |
And as a matter of fact, the book of Judges, you can say, is disturbing. 00:38:38.340 |
Some portions of it, in terms of the disgusting nature of people's sin, 00:38:43.340 |
is truly wicked and unmentionable around children. 00:38:52.340 |
In order for me to set the stage, I want to highlight the fact 00:38:56.340 |
that right before this scenario was the story of Joshua, the great leader, 00:39:05.340 |
So turn your Bible to Joshua 24, verse 21-25. 00:39:15.340 |
And in this segment, Joshua has commanded the people, 00:39:21.340 |
"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." 00:39:26.340 |
And he made sure people understood that they stand between a decision 00:39:39.340 |
And the people said, "Yes, we're going to serve." 00:39:44.340 |
The people said to Joshua, "But we will serve the Lord." 00:39:51.340 |
You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves 00:40:00.340 |
"Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst. 00:40:04.340 |
Incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel." 00:40:08.340 |
And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the Lord our God, 00:40:14.340 |
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day 00:40:17.340 |
and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 00:40:22.340 |
What I want to highlight to you from this passage 00:40:36.340 |
where every single person is talking back to the preacher, 00:40:40.340 |
you know, you can imagine those vibrant worship scenes 00:40:45.340 |
And with united voices, they're saying repeatedly, 00:40:50.340 |
And they were so motivated, they made a covenant. 00:40:53.340 |
Meaning they made a contractual, obligatory document 00:41:00.340 |
And then they made a statute, meaning they made kind of like policies, 00:41:09.340 |
And they even, in the next verses, made a monument of stone 00:41:14.340 |
It'd be like us painting the wall with banners saying, 00:41:19.340 |
It's like us putting up a statue outside and saying, 00:41:27.340 |
And then obviously, there's now this building uneasy feeling, 00:41:31.340 |
because we know that the weakness of the flesh is so weak 00:41:35.340 |
that even the highest pinnacle of motivation doesn't last too long. 00:41:41.340 |
And every single one of us probably, if we were in youth group, 00:41:45.340 |
we felt moments when we went to a retreat and we were up on high. 00:41:58.340 |
I'm going to serve the Lord. We're going to evangelize. 00:42:05.340 |
They even have seminars for what's called post-mission syndrome. 00:42:12.340 |
Because people who come back regularly experience a kind of downfall 00:42:16.340 |
where the high is too high and the low is too low, 00:42:19.340 |
and they don't know what to do with themselves. 00:42:24.340 |
And it sets up for us a very eerie sentiment, 00:42:27.340 |
and rightly so, because this is what happens next. 00:42:34.340 |
"Now it came about after the death of Joshua," 00:42:41.340 |
"God has sent by His grace leaders, deliverers, 00:42:46.340 |
who are called judges in the book of Judges." 00:42:48.340 |
And Joshua, in some ways, is like the great first, right? 00:42:56.340 |
"Lord, who's going to go for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?" 00:43:06.340 |
Behold, I have given the land into his hand." 00:43:16.340 |
"Come up with me into the territory allotted me, 00:43:21.340 |
and I in turn will go with you into the territory allotted to you." 00:43:26.340 |
Within the first three verses of the book of Judges, 00:43:43.340 |
that immediately come as people are walking on this earth. 00:43:51.340 |
that Judah was given this instruction plus answer to the question. 00:44:01.340 |
And the instruction and answer to the question is quite incredible, 00:44:04.340 |
because God says, I have given, like past tense, 00:44:17.340 |
Judah says, "Hey, Simeon, does that sound like sin to you?" 00:44:22.340 |
Well, if you think about it from God's perspective, it is. 00:44:26.340 |
If God is saying repeatedly, this is not the first time, 00:44:31.340 |
God has started saying since Genesis chapter 12, 00:44:37.340 |
And then he reiterates it over and over again. 00:44:40.340 |
The law in the book of Deuteronomy is an incredible book, 00:44:44.340 |
just rehearsing, reviewing, reminding all of the laws of God 00:44:52.340 |
Joshua was a beginning conquest of that land, 00:44:56.340 |
and already it was a reiteration of the promises of God. 00:45:13.340 |
He is not the first born, he is the fourth born. 00:45:22.340 |
It's not his thing to always pick the strong, the mighty, and the most numerous. 00:45:26.340 |
He actually explicitly explains, "I regularly pick the small." 00:45:36.340 |
"Awesome, yes, Lord, thank you for picking me." 00:45:42.340 |
how about you and me, like we do this thing together. 00:45:45.340 |
I will go with you, you go with me, and then we can go together." 00:45:50.340 |
This first sin I would like to call the sin where you're too scared to trust God. 00:45:57.340 |
And it's a sin that every single one of us can be susceptible of. 00:46:15.340 |
Fear is such a powerful force, it will have psychosomatic, 00:46:24.340 |
Fear will cause you to even jettison some of the greatest things you have in your life. 00:46:32.340 |
it's starting to already fizzle the moment Joshua is gone. 00:46:38.340 |
So first one, first sin, too scared to trust. 00:46:49.340 |
I also apologize, sometimes I'm just going to say these funny names. 00:46:54.340 |
so that you believe I know exactly what they're supposed to sound like. 00:47:02.340 |
and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 00:47:05.340 |
Adonai Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him 00:47:12.340 |
"Adonai Bezek said, 'Seventy kings, with their thumbs and their big toes, 00:47:16.340 |
cut off, used to gather up scraps under my table. 00:47:23.340 |
So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there." 00:47:26.340 |
Now you may be thinking, this is a pretty bland passage. 00:47:32.340 |
He killed the guy who should have been deserved, or kind of deserved to die. 00:47:36.340 |
So, Pastor Mark, are you picking, like nitpicking stuff? 00:47:40.340 |
The first was he didn't trust, the second is what? 00:47:48.340 |
Immediately, I think, if you just follow the trail of the narrative, 00:48:00.340 |
to take trophies home when they kill other kings. 00:48:03.340 |
What did God instruct the nation of Israel to do in the book of Joshua? 00:48:11.340 |
You were supposed to utterly destroy them because God, in his sovereign will, 00:48:17.340 |
said the pagan wickedness of that land need to be judged. 00:48:22.340 |
It wasn't God's plan for you to take home pieces. 00:48:27.340 |
It wasn't God's plan for you to take home trophies. 00:48:33.340 |
Before you go into this land, God said, "I need you to understand, 00:48:37.340 |
when you go in there, you're going to be tempted. 00:48:40.340 |
You're going to sit there and be like, "Oh, look at these pretty ladies." 00:48:43.340 |
So all you men, do not take home their women." 00:48:47.340 |
That's what he said. Do you know what else he said? 00:48:54.340 |
"When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, 00:48:57.340 |
you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations." 00:49:10.340 |
But your character is to follow my character. 00:49:15.340 |
You have laws embedded in your nation that reflect my character. 00:49:33.340 |
This is such a pervasive sin in the Christian community. 00:49:36.340 |
Even though we think we're above it, peer pressure is so strong. 00:49:42.340 |
Even though we think we're above it, this temptation to mimic the world 00:49:46.340 |
and their power, success, their pattern, their language, 00:49:51.340 |
everything about what they do is somehow immediately attractive. 00:49:55.340 |
These individuals go into conquer, they see this guy who at 70 times over 00:50:00.340 |
cut off the thumbs and toes of foreign kings. 00:50:03.340 |
And you know exactly why. It makes them impotent. 00:50:13.340 |
I made you holy for me. You're not supposed to copy them. 00:50:25.340 |
We skipped a little portion about the land given to Caleb. 00:50:28.340 |
And it's a good little story, but for our sake we don't have time. 00:50:39.340 |
what we see is another what sounds like a boring passage, 00:50:47.340 |
"But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-she-en and its villages, 00:50:52.340 |
Tanakh and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, 00:51:00.340 |
or the inhabitants of Medio and its villages. 00:51:03.340 |
So the Canaanites persisted in living in the land." 00:51:10.340 |
So you read the book of Judges and you might just be tempted to move forward. 00:51:17.340 |
And probably already your alarm is going off. 00:51:24.340 |
You were supposed to inhabit the land you dummy! 00:51:27.340 |
Literally the build up is, "I will promise you the land. 00:51:32.340 |
And I will give you this land flowing with milk and honey. 00:51:36.340 |
And I'm going to prepare you to enter into this land. 00:51:39.340 |
And I'm going to prepare them by moving them with fear and interpretation 00:51:45.340 |
And you're going to go in there and they're going to be scared out of their minds. 00:51:48.340 |
And one group of people is going to abolish 13 groups of people. 00:51:52.340 |
And you're going to march in there and you're going to represent God Almighty. 00:51:59.340 |
Why won't you just go in and take possession? 00:52:03.340 |
So already I want to highlight for you that most of our sins are pretty basic. 00:52:09.340 |
Most of our sins don't have like flair to it. 00:52:13.340 |
We're going to go out there all crazy like, "Look at me! I'm going to sin!" 00:52:33.340 |
"It came about when Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor. 00:52:52.340 |
When you think, when you're duped to think by Satan and your own flesh. 00:53:02.340 |
I mean, you're going to fault me for like not eradicating these people? 00:53:13.340 |
And yes, God did command, "You shall not kidnap people." 00:53:16.340 |
The people of God were not supposed to take on slaves this way. 00:53:23.340 |
The people of God actually as they journeyed, they took in indentured servants and other people. 00:53:47.340 |
God actually said to this nation, "I want to show you just how sinful you are in case you're going to sit there defensively saying that you're not sinful by testing you." 00:54:00.340 |
And one of the primary ways He says, "I'm going to test you," is, "I'm going to give you bread for today." 00:54:06.340 |
For the million people who are wandering through the desert, He said, "I'm going to make bread just fall. 00:54:12.340 |
And you're going to go out there and just pick it up and just eat it. 00:54:15.340 |
And it's going to be like sweet. It's going to be like light honey." Right? 00:54:19.340 |
But then He said, "But you will not take more than the day's worth." 00:54:26.340 |
Immediately they're like, "Hey, do you have some jars? Do you got some buckets? How about a big bag?" Right? 00:54:33.340 |
And they started like hoarding it. And it was just like, it completely spoiled and molded over. 00:54:37.340 |
And God was like, "I was testing you. Hello." 00:54:41.340 |
But in your heart, like you're not content with the fact that God is taking care of every single minute provision that you may need. 00:54:49.340 |
Do you realize, people, that in the story of their wilderness wandering, these people did not have many, many chains of clothes and wardrobes. 00:54:57.340 |
But God did not allow their clothes to wear for 40 years. 00:55:02.340 |
Scripture accounts that their shoes did not wear for 40 years. 00:55:14.340 |
Because the hearts of the people were discontent. 00:55:20.340 |
If you're experiencing victory in your life, people are afraid and they're falling in front of you. 00:55:27.340 |
And these mighty kingdoms who had overcome nations and kingdoms are now your servants. 00:55:33.340 |
And that's not enough. And you thought, "You know, if we wait a little bit, we can get free labor." 00:55:38.340 |
Your heart is so, so big for the wrong things. 00:55:46.340 |
And I think that is actually in our day and age, one of the great, great temptations. 00:55:53.340 |
Now it's hard to draw that line, right? Like, at what point is my heart greedy? 00:56:05.340 |
We will have to go before the Lord with our own personal convictions of our own personal sins before God. 00:56:14.340 |
But my thought is that in our generation, people don't. 00:56:19.340 |
They allow themselves just to fall into this general, obscure state of, "I don't think it's like explicit sin." 00:56:30.340 |
They don't work out their salvation with God. 00:56:33.340 |
"Lord, is this the same sin as the nations before me where they moved from, they were a nation under oppression, 00:56:42.340 |
and they know all the horrors of being forced into labor, 00:56:47.340 |
and here and now when they get the opportunity, they think it's my turn? 00:56:57.340 |
They literally see kingdoms fall, but they have a hard time trusting you. 00:57:05.340 |
We should regularly be going to God with that kind of honesty, heart on the table. Amen? 00:57:14.340 |
Now, what I did is I meditated with you and described from the book of Judges chapter 1, three different types of sin. 00:57:21.340 |
And in that way, the book of Judges is a depressive book. 00:57:29.340 |
But, going further into this description, we want to understand not only the types of sin that commonly exist, 00:57:43.340 |
The first characteristic that I want to highlight to you is that sin is incredibly contagious. 00:57:49.340 |
Now, what I'm talking about now in this one is not just like there is a pervasiveness of sin where a little bit of sin on you, 00:57:59.340 |
for example, like if you have a scab, if you have a boil, you have some virus in you, it can pervasively go through all of you. 00:58:08.340 |
I'm going to talk about that in the next point. 00:58:11.340 |
But in this point, it's more like contagion, meaning transmissibility. 00:58:15.340 |
I know we just, you know, COVID stuff, all these terminologies are circling in my head. 00:58:20.340 |
Do you guys recall that with COVID early on when we were genuinely afraid of it, 00:58:25.340 |
we thought that it was so contagious that literally if I touched the table, I am like a walking slimy blob of virus, right? 00:58:35.340 |
So that the table itself now is contaminated. Yes? 00:58:40.340 |
And then we thought it was so contagious that actually in that room over there, we have equipment. 00:58:45.340 |
It was pretty awesome. Actually, I really enjoyed using it. 00:58:48.340 |
And I'm thankful to our volunteers who purchased it. 00:58:51.340 |
It was like a blow, you know, the leaf blowers, yeah? 00:58:59.340 |
It went, and then it just covered the whole room. 00:59:02.340 |
And again, during that time, thank you to the volunteers who did that behind the scenes, you know? 00:59:08.340 |
But we did that because we didn't know if it was actually that transmissible. 00:59:14.340 |
You do realize the way God tried to teach the nation, yes? 00:59:34.340 |
What's more, in the Old Testament, as it describes the sin, it describes it as moving from person to person. 00:59:45.340 |
It's being transferred from person to person. 00:59:47.340 |
It's being transferred from nation to nation. 00:59:49.340 |
And then here in the book of Judges, to me, that's what it's screaming. 01:00:00.340 |
It's crazy to think that there's so much talk of sin, we haven't even left chapter 1 yet. 01:00:08.340 |
Ephraim also did not drive the Canaanites who were living in Gezer. 01:00:17.340 |
Zebalun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Naal. 01:00:23.340 |
So the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor. 01:00:28.340 |
Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko or the inhabitants of Sinan or of Elab and Chisbeth and Helba and Ziphoc and Rehob. 01:00:40.340 |
So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites and the inhabitants of the land, but they did not drive them out. 01:00:46.340 |
Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anath, 01:00:54.340 |
but he drove out among the Canaanites the inhabitants of the land and the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, Beth Anath became forced labor for them. 01:01:06.340 |
That's a sad string of verses right there, isn't it? 01:01:11.340 |
You might even say, "That's like every tribe. 01:01:28.340 |
And if God were to come down and say, "What are you doing?" 01:01:50.340 |
The New Testament says, "Do you understand that a little bit of leaven leavens a whole lump?" 01:01:55.340 |
"Do you understand bad company corrupts good morals?" 01:02:01.340 |
And that's why the New Testament, it defines love in a different way than our society defines love. 01:02:06.340 |
Our society defines love as, you know, "Leave it be. Give them spice. Trust in them. They're going to come around eventually." 01:02:14.340 |
The Scripture says, "When you see sin for what it is, 01:02:19.340 |
spare them from the kind of contaminant, the kind of transmissible thing that will spread like gangrene." 01:02:27.340 |
And especially for the church, Scripture heightens the seriousness of sin, especially bad doctrine. 01:02:35.340 |
That idea of the little bit of leavening the whole lump comes from the book of Galatians. 01:02:44.340 |
And what he's talking about is there's a bunch of people within the church community who are like, "Jesus, yes! Yes, Jesus!" 01:02:51.340 |
But also circumcision. How about circumcision? 01:02:54.340 |
We had ritual. Circumcision was tied to God's covenant. Circumcision was tied to the blessings of Abraham. 01:03:01.340 |
And that's huge! And in order to be a part of the people of God, you have to be circumcised. 01:03:08.340 |
And Apostle Paul says, "Do you have any idea a little bit of that spoils all of it? Cut it out." Right? 01:03:18.340 |
So I want to ask you this question, like, do you tolerate this little bit within you thinking that it doesn't transfer to other people? 01:03:34.340 |
In one sense, when you think about your sin, how do you see it? 01:03:39.340 |
I'm going to give here and here, verses, okay? 01:03:42.340 |
On one side, you can see your sin as a genuine mistake. 01:03:46.340 |
And I'm going to use the, let's say, example of blowing your temper. 01:03:50.340 |
"Man, I was tired after a long week. It was Friday night. There was a whole lot of things that wasn't going on. 01:03:58.340 |
And it was the end of the week and I was just looking for some rest. And then this goes bad and that goes bad. 01:04:03.340 |
And then in the moment of heat and just kind of arguing, I just blew it! 01:04:12.340 |
Is that true? Could it be? Yeah. Yeah. It is weakness. 01:04:19.340 |
But on this side, you can see it as, you know, though, that's whenever you sin, you become an example. 01:04:28.340 |
Whenever you sin, you become an example for your children. 01:04:32.340 |
You become almost a permission for other people. 01:04:35.340 |
You end up becoming the light of the wrong side. 01:04:43.340 |
And every time you sin, you represent the wrong team. 01:04:48.340 |
And everything behind it and after that becomes an excuse for perpetuation of the sin. 01:04:53.340 |
And you become the permissive excuse for others to sin. 01:04:57.340 |
And as I thought about that, I became very, very convicted. 01:05:01.340 |
I am a pastor. It makes me no greater. It doesn't make me have more authority, etc., etc. 01:05:08.340 |
But oh my gosh, if I do something, right, I have to understand that sin is also seen as a great, great contaminant 01:05:23.340 |
Point number two. Another characteristic of sin is that sin grows viciously. 01:05:30.340 |
And so this one I want you to imagine the weeds on your front lawn. 01:05:36.340 |
You may have worked hard, you know, mowing and fertilizing your lawn to have great green grass. 01:05:44.340 |
But just one week of rain and all of a sudden it's poof, all these weeds are everywhere. Yes? 01:05:53.340 |
And I'm not necessarily now talking about its transmissibility from one person to another. 01:05:58.340 |
I'm talking about how it desires almost like it has cravings of its own to take all of you. Yes? 01:06:06.340 |
And the reason why I say this is because when you look at the progression of the book of Judges, it's crazy to me. 01:06:13.340 |
Chapter one had a description of minor failures. 01:06:17.340 |
He didn't trust God. Okay. Still, very serious sin and the heart of it needs to be uprooted. 01:06:24.340 |
But is that something we're going to hold against Judah? 01:06:31.340 |
Sure, like he failed to obey completely, but he was still fighting. 01:06:36.340 |
But you go from there and look at what it produced. 01:06:43.340 |
Judges chapter two, verse 11 through 12 reads like this. 01:06:53.340 |
It did evil in the sight of the Lord and it served Baals. 01:06:56.340 |
It forsook the Lord and the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt. 01:07:02.340 |
They followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them. 01:07:12.340 |
It went from, "I allowed these pagans to live" to, "What are you doing on your knees?" 01:07:17.340 |
"Why are you making sacrifice to Asteroth poles?" 01:07:25.340 |
"You saw God rain down fire for crying out loud." 01:07:32.340 |
Literally, like you almost want to ask, "What are you?" 01:07:37.340 |
And then you realize sin does not remain dormant. 01:07:47.340 |
Now granted, the book of Judges, it moves so fast that you think like the next day, 01:07:57.340 |
And what's more, in chapter two, it circles back to give you a summary. 01:08:02.340 |
Joshua died and then they turned into this cycle. 01:08:06.340 |
Because the big picture is they're going to be doing this again and again and again. 01:08:14.340 |
But my point to you is, oh my gosh, like sin grows so fast. 01:08:21.340 |
And what's more, it bears horrible rotten fruit. 01:08:29.340 |
If there are certain sins that you have hidden, meaning you did it and then you haven't confessed, 01:08:35.340 |
you haven't confessed to a brother, you haven't confessed to God, please do. 01:08:41.340 |
Out of love for you, you and I both know that sin left there undealt with is not a little baby. 01:08:49.340 |
It's a vicious monster and it wants to kill you. 01:08:53.340 |
And using this example of the temper and stuff like that, 01:08:59.340 |
you do realize scripture says to you, do not even let the root of bitterness reside in your heart. 01:09:07.340 |
Because scripture knows that thing will grow into venting, it will grow into rage. 01:09:11.340 |
You hold even just the thoughts of hatred in your heart and it's going to first dig out a hole in your mind. 01:09:19.340 |
It's going to scheme and when it sees an opportunity, it's just going to rush out like a caged animal. 01:09:30.340 |
Where you held on to a little like, you know? 01:09:33.340 |
Especially even if, you know, let's say the closest relationship to you where some people get on your nerve 01:09:41.340 |
and you hold like, I'm going to remember you said this. 01:09:43.340 |
And the next time they come around and they say something insensitive, 01:09:47.340 |
now it just blows up into, you always and you never and you, right? 01:09:59.340 |
Scripture tells to us that sin grows viciously. 01:10:07.340 |
Primary character trait of sin is that it is absolutely stubborn. 01:10:11.340 |
It is so stiff-necked as scripture would say. 01:10:26.340 |
Even after cycle of cycle of what God is doing, 01:10:29.340 |
God has shown mercy to the degree that even though they're sinning, 01:10:35.340 |
He still allows them to experience a level of being able to still go forward. 01:10:43.340 |
Praise the Lord that for us and even the people of the Old Testament, 01:10:49.340 |
God has shown such grace that even in their sin, 01:10:56.340 |
Unfortunately, the sinful heart interpret that as, 01:11:07.340 |
What's really interesting about it is God would raise the deliverer, 01:11:10.340 |
God would raise the judge, but what does it say in verse 17? 01:11:23.340 |
"And they laid the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them." 01:11:30.340 |
Why would you be so committed, so dedicated in chapter 24 of Joshua, 01:11:36.340 |
and then now that stubbornness has turned into you 01:11:57.340 |
in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them. 01:12:00.340 |
They did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways." 01:12:12.340 |
The crazy thing about it is, to us, it's like, 01:12:17.340 |
we can see it, this vicious cycle within the nation, 01:12:26.340 |
That not only is it just once or twice of the cyclical cycle, 01:12:30.340 |
the entire book of Judges is 12 cycles of it. 01:12:35.340 |
And to me, it just reminded me of this meme that I saw. 01:12:45.340 |
And what it said at the top was, "Girls these days." 01:12:50.340 |
and the Jedi Masters were like, "This one has too much rage. 01:12:56.340 |
And then the next picture was, he has the, what is that called? 01:13:10.340 |
And then he has the next warning of him talking to the Sith Lord, 01:13:14.340 |
and the Sith Lord's like, "Yes, give in to your anger." 01:13:25.340 |
And you're sitting there like, "For crying out loud, lady." 01:13:39.340 |
He thinks he's so powerful, he can do everything. 01:13:42.340 |
And the girl's sitting there like, "Oh, but we're in love." 01:13:46.340 |
As an example of the stubbornness of that age-old, like, you know, axiom, 01:14:10.340 |
and we turn around and look to another person who might say yes. 01:14:13.340 |
God says no, we look to our friends who might say yes. 01:14:19.340 |
and then in our minds we're thinking, "Not yet." 01:14:22.340 |
Right? Like, we're just going to wait it out a little bit. 01:14:29.340 |
And that kind of thing is going to kill us, brothers and sisters. 01:14:33.340 |
So, we took a look at three different types of sins that are common to us all. 01:14:39.340 |
We looked at three characteristics shown to us in the book of Judges. 01:14:48.340 |
We did it because, not because, "Oh, like, I'm some kind of sadomasochist, 01:14:55.340 |
Because when we look at the sin, we see depictions of the way that God is trying to teach us. 01:15:06.340 |
Do you have any idea where you would be if I did not stop you from your own devices? 01:15:12.340 |
And the thing about it is we did this because when we are faced with our sins, 01:15:22.340 |
When we are faced with our own sinfulness, there is this question, "What will you do with it?" 01:15:34.340 |
I mean, one option is to be like, "Oh, no! I'm so simple!" 01:15:43.340 |
The other option is to be like, "I don't want to see it. Don't show me a picture." 01:15:48.340 |
The doctor is like, "Hey, can I have you look at these x-rays?" 01:15:55.340 |
I also hope, speaking to those of you guys who have been Christian for a long time, 01:16:01.340 |
if you have found yourself not able to grieve over your sin, 01:16:09.340 |
That means that although, yes, you have experienced failure and sin and weakness, 01:16:16.340 |
perhaps you were falling into that state of, "Ah, it's just my personality. 01:16:31.340 |
We have to see sin the way God sees it, even if it hurts. 01:16:39.340 |
The propensity of our generation is to tell God to be quiet. 01:16:54.340 |
But for the Christian, we say, "God, I'm all ears. 01:17:01.340 |
I will be the good patient to the great physician." 01:17:11.340 |
And I will pay attention to do all that you have said, even if it hurts. 01:17:16.340 |
And we'll hold that line because this is the reality of which God is trying to show us. 01:17:30.340 |
What's really interesting is God sends an angel to them and he rebukes them this way. 01:17:37.340 |
In verse 1 and 5, it says, "Now the angel of the Lord came upon Gilgal and Bochim, 01:17:42.340 |
and he said, 'I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers.' 01:17:48.340 |
And I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you.'" 01:17:57.340 |
You notice already the context of which he sees our sin is a covenant relationship. 01:18:07.340 |
You know that God does not see sin just as a mistake. 01:18:17.340 |
God does not see our sins in a vacuum outside of himself. 01:18:27.340 |
"And as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. 01:18:32.340 |
You shall tear down their altars, but you have not obeyed me. 01:18:42.340 |
He is examining us and he is giving us this question. 01:18:52.340 |
And then he says, "Therefore I have said, 'I will not drive them out before you, 01:18:55.340 |
but they will become as thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.' 01:19:01.340 |
When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, 01:19:16.340 |
Contrast the way that you see sin versus the way God sees sin. 01:19:22.340 |
In the counseling world and even in just modern day terminologies, 01:19:38.340 |
Sometimes even as what they call fruit patterns of my upbringing. 01:19:43.340 |
Sometimes we see them simply as personality traits. 01:19:46.340 |
Sometimes we see them as, and the list goes on. 01:19:49.340 |
But the kind of terminology that is both implied and explicit 01:19:57.340 |
he uses terms like, "My covenant with you I will never break." 01:20:11.340 |
Verse 17 we read earlier, chapter 2 verse 17, 01:20:17.340 |
"for they played the harlot after other gods and turned aside." 01:20:36.340 |
when we think about the way the New Testament sees our sin, 01:20:43.340 |
we're going to talk about that mishap. Hmm, you know, 01:20:47.340 |
we're going to talk about that bad behavior. Hmm, you know, 01:20:54.340 |
Do you understand that your friendship with the world 01:20:58.340 |
That even your longing to be so attached, blessed, 01:21:01.340 |
and successful in the world, God sees as opposition? 01:21:10.340 |
you do realize Scripture says God opposes the proud. 01:21:14.340 |
God always sees our sin in context of himself. 01:21:26.340 |
And the reason why I bring this up is because 01:21:29.340 |
I do see a pattern in myself where I'm looking at sin 01:21:42.340 |
Because even when we were kids and we knew we messed up, 01:21:51.340 |
If my parents, my father is coming in front of me 01:21:56.340 |
how hard is it to lift up your eyes and meet him eye to eye? 01:22:04.340 |
You're kind of like looking away, looking down, right? 01:22:19.340 |
Our true faith and the genuineness of our conversion 01:22:33.340 |
No man is saved if he gets to define his own transgressions. 01:22:37.340 |
There is no Christian who got to say to the Lord Almighty, 01:22:42.340 |
"You know, all I came to to the table today was just mistakes." 01:23:05.340 |
So do not be afraid of seeing sin the way God sees it. 01:23:09.340 |
And do not be afraid of using terminology that is always personal. 01:23:13.340 |
Sin is not your transgression against universal laws and principles. 01:23:18.340 |
It is always the transgression of God's will. 01:23:28.340 |
or the second reason why we have to see sin the way God does 01:23:34.340 |
is because otherwise God's mercy does not make sense. 01:23:43.340 |
We will never be in the proper place of humility 01:23:47.340 |
and we will never be in the proper place of worship, 01:23:51.340 |
overflowing with thankfulness because of what God has done. 01:23:59.340 |
If you noticed in my jumping around in the second chapter of Judges, 01:24:04.340 |
I like intentionally skipped verse 18 because it is a punchline. 01:24:12.340 |
And what it says is, "When the Lord raised up judges for them," 01:24:27.340 |
But God raised up judges, and it's not judges to judge them. 01:24:44.340 |
and delivered them from the hand of the enemies 01:24:49.340 |
For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning 01:24:54.340 |
because of those who oppressed and afflicted them." 01:25:13.340 |
I think that pity would be quite annoying, wouldn't it? 01:25:17.340 |
I mean, we have a lot of nurses and doctors in here. 01:25:22.340 |
Imagine if you had, I don't know, a nurse or a doctor 01:25:45.340 |
You would be like, "Okay, you're not Dr. House." 01:25:48.340 |
You know, they're not like some crazy physician 01:25:51.340 |
who's like, "Oh, I'm not going to see a doctor." 01:26:04.340 |
Who asked you? Let me give you another example. 01:26:08.340 |
Jesus literally said, "I did not come for the healthy." 01:26:12.340 |
So those who knew their sickness ran to the physician. 01:26:16.340 |
In Jesus' time, yes, there was not modern medicine. 01:27:04.340 |
follow with me as we walk through this passage, 01:29:27.340 |
who are so frustrated because you have been Christian 01:29:32.340 |
And you have probably said something to the extent of, 01:30:29.340 |
"For as high as the heavens are above the sea, 01:30:41.340 |
so far has he removed our transgressions from us." 01:30:51.340 |
it's not just the frustrating stubbornness of sin. 01:30:54.340 |
Some of you have sins that you see as heinous, 01:31:19.340 |
And finally, "Just as the Father has compassion on his children, 01:31:21.340 |
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. 01:31:56.340 |
I asked you earlier, "How does God see your sin?" 01:32:19.340 |
There are some of you that I sit with and talk to. 01:32:46.340 |
you still haven't humbly dealt with God then. 01:36:29.340 |
I've been through times of rain and times of rain. 01:37:23.340 |
And when I reach, and when I reach the final day. 01:39:25.340 |
Lord, Heavenly Father, as we gather here, we want to lift up a word of thanks. 01:39:37.340 |
That God, with mercy and pity in your eyes, you know our frame. 01:39:42.340 |
You know that we are weak, and God, that we are but dust. 01:39:47.340 |
And thank you, Lord, for sending your Son to be able to sympathize as a high priest, 01:39:53.340 |
knowing our weakness, but able to come to our aid. 01:39:57.340 |
We thank you, Lord, for the daily provision you give. 01:40:01.340 |
We thank you also for the healing that you provide in moments of sin, 01:40:06.340 |
in past regrets, God, that you make us whole. 01:40:10.340 |
I pray that even this week, from what we've heard, we would be inspired and moved to go to you daily. 01:40:16.340 |
Lord, that we would fear, most of all, walking far from you. 01:40:21.340 |
And Lord, I pray that we would truly know what it means to walk with you daily and humbly. 01:40:26.340 |
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy. 01:40:33.340 |
For the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, 01:40:37.340 |
be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. 01:41:18.340 |
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. 01:42:01.340 |
And life is worth the living just because he lives. 01:42:20.340 |
And all throughout eternity our song will be the same.