Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / 2 Kings 17 (Part 1) Bible Study (Hoshea Reigns/The Fall of Israel & Exile) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

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2 Kings 17 (Part 1) Bible Study (Hoshea Reigns/The Fall of Israel & Exile) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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Second Kings chapter 17, brother, you, you prayed
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beautifully. Thank you, Brian for praying.
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Thank you for the praise team, for helping us love the Lord in
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song. But it's on my heart to pray
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again. And so before we even read one
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verse or I make any other comment, can we just turn our
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attention to the Lord once more? Lord, it's only going to be by
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the power of your Holy Spirit to make this more than a lesson.
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For this to be a life changing Bible study, it has to come from
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you. And so we ask, Lord, that you
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would visit us. Thank you that you live in US.
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Thank you that you've sealed us. Thank you that you are a
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guarantee. But Lord, we pray for the
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manifest power of the Holy Spirit.
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And we ask Lord, that even as we go through these truths that we
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would hear the voice of Christ. And Lord, our request is single,
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that we would love the Lord Jesus Christ more, that the love
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that we can all testify of that is filled with inexpressible joy
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and glory. O Lord, wash us again in that
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kind of a love. We trust that you're able to
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provide it. And we pray that you deal with
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every obstacle, every distraction, anything that would
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hinder 1 heart in this place from receiving what you have to
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say. Lord, we adore you and we pray
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that you help us cherish you more through this study.
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In the name of the living Christ, we pray Amen and Amen.
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Second King. 17 If I were to title this Bible study, I think
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I would go with the final straw. The final straw, because we have
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been studying week after week, 1, King after another, failing
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to uphold God's righteous standard and the nation's abject
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abhorrence of God's Word. And now we have come to the
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patience of the Lord reaching its breaking point.
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This is significant because this is going to manifest in the
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Kingdom of Israel facing its ultimate punishment, the forced
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evacuation of this people from the Promised land.
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This is going to change the rest of our study in the Old
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Testament. This is absolutely massive.
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It's imperative and there's so much in it for us to consider.
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But we have to keep this in mind that even before the people
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crossed the border and entered into their new home, the Lord
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warned so many times that if they continued in sin, they
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would be vomited out of the land, just like the previous
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inhabitants. But even though those warnings
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came to them before and after they lived in this land, none of
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them could imagine that it would be possible no matter what they
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did. And this was a false security
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that many of them had false hope in.
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And it was something that the Lord addressed through His
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servants, the prophets, on more than one occasion.
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In fact, it's all over the writings of the prophets.
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So allow me to give you a couple of examples.
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One that comes to mind is Amos chapter 6, verse 1.
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And you don't have to turn there unless you want to see with your
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own eyes. But he says there are woe to
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those who are at ease in Zion, to those who feel secure in the
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mountain of Samaria that was the capital of the Kingdom of
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Israel. And in that same chapter, in
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verse seven, he says, therefore you're going to be the first one
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to be exiled. I think of Jeremiah Chapter 7,
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verses 3 and 4 where the prophet says, thus says the Lord of
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hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your deeds and I
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will let you dwell in this place following it with this.
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Do not trust in deceptive words. And the word specifically that
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Jeremiah had in mind was this is the temple of the Lord, the
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temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.
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What were they saying? There is no way that God will
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allow anybody to conquer the temple.
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It's permanent. And they had all these strange
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explanations in their own hearts and even from false prophets who
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were saying peace, peace when there was no peace.
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So here's what we can learn right from the beginning.
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It's a dangerous thing to try to rationalize God's justice with
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our carnal wisdom. And man has many clever ways of
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trying to dismiss the concept of divine judgement against sin.
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And they do this again in many ways.
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Some try to redefine what sin really is, others put into
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question God's willingness to judge and what his wrath truly
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entails, and some just lie about his desire to bring about swift
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justice against iniquity and make him out to be someone who's
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not wrathful at all. So this was a constant
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diversion. This was something that was
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prominent in the days of the prophets, and it caused many
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people to be crystallized in their sin.
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And you have to recognize something.
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This deception was not only prevalent in the days of
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Jeremiah and Amos and Isaiah and Ezekiel, it was true in the days
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of the apostles. I'll ask you to turn here in
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Ephesians chapter 5. I know I told you to turn to 2nd
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king 17. Just keep your hand there.
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But look at this in the New Testament, in Ephesians chapter
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5, verse 5 to 6, Paul says, for you may be sure of this, that
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everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous,
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that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the Kingdom of
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Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with
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empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God
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comes upon the sons of disobedience.
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So this was prominent in Paul's day as well.
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You had people who are being taught, people who are persuaded
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that God will not judge certain sins, that these are just
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impulses. This is natural, that this is
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something that he winks at, this is something that he will not
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consider or take into account. And Paul calls those empty
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words. And more than he says, this is
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deception. Yes, there are sins that we can
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commit that God will pour out his wrath on, namely, if you are
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outside of Christ. Do you think it's any different
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today? Do you think that there are
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people who are downplaying the wrath of God that are redefining
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what eternal judgement really is?
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It's becoming increasingly popular in churches, in
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Christendom. Be careful.
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Be careful of those who would try to question God's character,
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His nature, who emphasize one element of Him while ignoring
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another. This people here understood that
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God was patient, I'm talking about Israel, but they could not
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fathom how and why He would punish.
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So let's read the first 6 verses together because what you and I
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are going to look at is the final king of Israel, not of
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Judah but of the Northern Kingdom.
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Second king 17 verse one in the 12th year of A has king of
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Judah. Hoshea the son of Elah began to
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reign in Samaria over Israel and he reigned nine years and he did
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what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings
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of Israel who were before him against them came up.
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Shamanese are king of Assyria and Hoshea became his vassal and
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paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found
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treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to Sew king of
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Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had
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done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria
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shut him up and bound him in prison.
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Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to
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Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.
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In the ninth year of Hosheh, the king of Assyria captured
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Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and
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placed them in Hala and on the high bar the river of Gozen and
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the city of the Medes. Behold, the final ruler of this
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Kingdom. And as significant as that is,
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he doesn't seem to be the focus of these verses at least.
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Did you notice how many times the title King of Assyria
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appears in these verses? It's repeated a total of 6
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times. This is a linguistic attempt to
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try to help us understand that there is one Kingdom now that's
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overshadowing another. In other words, there's a new
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sheriff in town. The king of Israel is no longer
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in charge. A foreign nation now has come to
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take full control. And yes, it's gradual, but we
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see where this is going. And this is so important for us
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to consider because it's kind of odd to see the king of Assyria
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encroaching upon the Kingdom of Israel under this
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administration. Why is it strange, at least
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initially? Look back at verse 2.
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And he did what was evil in the side of the Lord, yet not as the
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kings of Israel who were before him.
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So he was evil, but he was not as evil as his predecessors.
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And so some students of the Bible have come to this and they
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were puzzled. Why does an invasion occur under
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a king who is not as wicked as those who came before him?
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It would make more sense for an Ahab like King or it has why
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Hoshea and many explanations have been given, but I think
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it's more simple than people make it out to be.
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It's actually not as complicated because it doesn't say that
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Hoshea was innocent, does it doesn't say that he was
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righteous. It just shows that he's sinned
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differently than those who came before him.
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If anything, this is a reminder to all of us that sin is sin and
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that we all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of
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God. Because we are very tricky and
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we are very clever in how we try to make ourselves less sinful
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than others. We compare, we contrast, and you
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and I may transgress in different ways, but choosing
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certain sins over others does not give us a better chance of
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being acquitted. That's exactly what James talks
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about in James 211. He says that the law says do not
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commit adultery, and it also says do not murder.
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And if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have
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become a transgressor of the law.
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OK, so you don't sin in this way, but you sin in another.
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You're still, you're still a transgressor in your own right.
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You still have broken God's law. You're still stained with sin
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and you need a Savior. Hoshea here is is not innocent.
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He can't escape this. He himself is in trouble and you
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and I have to understand because if we compare, we can convince
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ourselves that we can make make it past God's righteous standard
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when all the while we are desperately in need of it.
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I think of Isaiah having this conversation the other day with
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somebody where Isaiah there in Isaiah chapter 6 in the presence
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of the Lord. He says I'm a man of unclean
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lips and a moment among the people of unclean lips.
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The context makes that so much more profound than people
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initially understand it because in the year that king Uzziah
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died, Isaiah had that vision. How did Uzziah you remember this
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for a couple weeks ago. How did Uzziah sin?
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He went into the temple of the Lord assumed to be a priest.
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How was he punished? He became a leper.
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What was a leper to do if they to do it, they came into close
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proximity with somebody who was not a leper.
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They were to announce what unclean, unclean, unclean,
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unclean. And here's Isaiah the prophet
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who up to chapter 6 was telling all the people of Israel, woe to
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you, woe to you. And then once he sees the
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glorified Lord there on his throne, he says, I'm a man of
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unclean lips. What is he saying there?
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He's saying many things, including this.
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I'm no better than Uziah. I'm no better than that man in
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the presence of Jesus Christ. I need a savior.
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Well, I'm a prophet. Who cares?
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I preach well in the presence of the Lord, even your best deeds
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are unclean. So Jose here, he's not going to
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go free. He's also going to be facing
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judgement. And here's what's so
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significant. Assyria does not immediately
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take over the Kingdom, does he? It's gradual and before he takes
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full control, he takes control of the people in terms of
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taxation. So now they're subjugated to
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them. They have to pay every year.
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They have to give up their resources.
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And look at this at verse 3. This stood out to me here.
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It says here that he had to pay him tribute.
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That's the last word there. Verse 3, the word in the Hebrew
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is found all over the book of Leviticus describing what the
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offerings that the people were to make in the temple as an act
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of worship. And I think there's a subtle
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lesson there. I think there's a reminder here
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that whether we are aware of it or not, we all worship someone
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or something. This is how low the nation got,
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that instead of focusing and giving all their tribute to the
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Lord, they gave it to another king.
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Whatever your ultimate allegiance or loyalty is to is
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what you worship. There's no other way around it.
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And so in refusing to worship the true God, he is in essence
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worshiping another king. And that is true for all of us
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to fail to faithfully worship the Lord.
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You will give what belongs to God to something else.
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You was we heard so many times become a slave to someone or
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something else. And those have tragic
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consequences when God is not the object of your worship.
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Let me give you an example. I know we haven't read these
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verses, but Scroll down to verse 15.
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It says here they despised His statutes and His covenant that
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He made with their fathers and the warnings that He gave them.
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They went after false idols and became false, and they follow
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the nations that were around them concerning whom the Lord
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have commanded them, that they should not do like them.
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I think the King James captures this verse a little bit more
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accurately. DSV says that they what they
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went after false idols and became false.
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King James would say they went after vain things and became
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vain. But when you look at the Hebrew,
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it's even more profound. It draws out the meaning, I
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believe obviously in the original language for us to
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consider the the severity of wrong pursuits.
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The word there for vain or false in the Hebrew is Havel.
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When I looked into this word, I wanted to know what it meant.
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It was interesting. It means to act mentally void,
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something that's profitless, something that's futile.
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In other contexts, it would be the word breath or vapor.
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So if you go with the original, you know how you can translate
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that one part in that verse? They went after empty things and
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became empty. And here's what came to mind.
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You all know it, that before you came to Christ there was a
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hollowness in the soul, right? You can testify that and you
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know it. When you're not walking closely
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with the Lord, you, you feel like you're a shell.
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You feel like I'm missing something.
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And I believe that's a proof text to back that feeling up.
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In pursuing empty things, what happens?
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They became empty. And that's a sad state of
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anybody who does not have the Lord as their King.
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Here's the beauty of our God, that He is so willing to rescue
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us from tyrannical masters that have deceived us and lied to us,
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and keep us bound and bring us unto Himself and become our Lord
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and fulfill us as He becomes our Lord and our Savior.
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Hoshey had that choice. I believe that's the reason why
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the Lord does not allow Assyria to immediately ransack
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everything. He allows them to come in steps
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close enough for Hoshea to taste the misery of being ruled by
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something or someone else. So what does Hoshea do?
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Does he cry out for mercy? Does he realize that I'm, I'm,
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I'm doing the wrong thing here, Lord, I surrender, I repent.
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Now look what he does in verse 4 again.
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But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had
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sent messengers to sow king of Egypt and offered no tribute to
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the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year.
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Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in
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prison. He blew it.
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The one opportunity for you to cry out so that you can be
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liberated, to be saved, you turn to another savior.
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And why he messes up here is not because his attempt to conspire
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against Assyria angered the king.
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It's because he went to another solution apart from God himself.
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Can I ask you a question? Did God give precise
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instruction, namely to the kings, of how they should relate
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to the nation of Egypt? Does anything come to mind from
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the Old Testament? We've referenced this passage
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over and over again throughout our studying kings.
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It's in that passage in Deuteronomy 17 and in verse 16,
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he was so specific in telling what his future rulers ought to
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do and how they should relate, namely to the Egyptians.
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Listen to this in Deuteronomy 1716.
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Only he being the king, only he must not acquire many horses for
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himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to
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acquire many horses. Now look at this, since the Lord
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has said to you, you shall never return that way again.
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The Lord knew the temptation that would come.
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And Egypt in the Scriptures is often a picture of the world.
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And under those circumstances, was Israel ever meant to engage
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with the place that they were delivered from?
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And this may not resonate with you now, but I hope that you'll
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remember it for a time where it'll really count.
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The temptation to rely on fleshly carnal actions, wisdom,
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or worldly partnerships will be much more intense when you're in
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trouble. When you find yourself surprised
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by some kind of distress or decision, you feel like there
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are no answers. Be careful being a Lord to go
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back to the way you used to think or your former man,
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because in those moments you know what the Lord does.
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He allows those things to happen so that he will watch to see if
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you'll come to Him. Where will you run?
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Who will you call? What will you rely on?
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What will you implement? And there's a place in Isaiah 30
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where the Lord speaks about this very incident through the
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prophet Isaiah. Oh, it's worth turning there in
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Isaiah 30, verse one. Ah, stubborn children, declares
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the Lord, who carry out a plan but not mine, and who make an
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alliance but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin,
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who set out to go down to Egypt and do what without asking for
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my direction? To take refuge in the protection
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of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.
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So what was the problem here? Not that they couldn't find
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answers elsewhere and practical means, but they did so without
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asking direction from God. That's what broke God's heart.
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Do you want to enrich your relationship with the Lord?
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Can I offer one thing? Make it a regular habit to
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consult Him. This is his desire.
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He takes delight in receiving your request, and if you do
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that, listen, he not only will hear you, you will receive
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something in return. You will inherit a steady peace.
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If that's a pattern in your life, I can guarantee it.
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You will know more of His presence because you're
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constantly coming to Him, and you will know the very blessing
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of God on the thing that you're asking Him to help you with,
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because He doesn't just watch, He waits.
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He waits and He waits for the moment that you turn to Him to
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do something else. Look at the same passage in
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Isaiah 30. Scroll down to verse 18.
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It's in the same context, and look what He says.
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Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore
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he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
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For the Lord is a God of justice.
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Blessed are all those who wait for him.
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Do you see that? So not only does he observe to
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see what will you do when you're pressed and understanding this,
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that He waits not just for you to obey, but for you to know His
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mercy. He longs to show mercy and
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notice that the deliverance, the answer is not necessarily
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immediate. And the same passage we're told
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blessed are all those who wait for him.
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So, so many people are frustrated in turning to the
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Lord as a reflex because they they want immediate answers.
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OK, but there's a specific blessing for those who wait for
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the answer and you can comfort yourself with this.
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I've done my part to turn to him to receive from him and I trust
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that he is merciful to me in that place.
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This, this king refused to do it, at least for the time being,
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and this captivity would be so shocking to the original readers
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that the authors compelled by the Spirit to do something with
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the rest of the chapter. He's going to give a summary of
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why they were exiled. This is staggering.
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This is altering for the future of this people.
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And so from verse 7 back in our main text in 17 Second Kings 17,
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from verse 7 down to verse 23, there's going to be an overview
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comments that you're very familiar with because we've seen
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them over and over in our study of Second Kings.
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But as I was staring at this passage the other day, praying,
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Lord, I know there's something else here.
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You don't repeat yourself without, without a goal, just
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meditating and just asking the Lord for something.
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I realized that certain words and certain phrases were
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standing out. And as things stood out, I
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realized that there's specific reasons why the people were
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removed from the promises of God, and they're the same
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reasons, the same causes, the same factors that might lure you
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and me away from God's perfect will for our lives.
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See, the Promised Land signifies that God's good promises, his
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gifts. And though the people remained
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his people, even though they were in exile, they removed
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themselves from a position of receiving his promises.
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It's possible for Christians to do the same.
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Praise God, he seals us and keeps us until the end for
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eternal life. But you can miss out a lot in
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this life. That's why for the rest of the
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study, you have to really pay attention.
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This is my heart. This has been my prayer because
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I think there are at least four reasons why Christians are not
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under God's total blessing, are not walking in the fullness of
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his plan for their lives. And it's here.
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It's it's exemplified with this nation.
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And so let's look at 4 reasons, 4 causes for a person who is in
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Christ to miss out on all that Christ would have for them.
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And the first one is this no awe of God.
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There is no awe of God. Look at verse 7 to verse 8.
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And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned
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against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the
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land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
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and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the
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nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel and
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in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.
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Highlight that phrase at the end of verse seven, had feared other
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gods. Obviously that doesn't mean that
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they were in dread of different deities or local powers.
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This speaks of them having a greater reverence and adoration
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for other things instead of the Lord Himself, and that was a
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cause for them to slip to a wrong path.
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And this is not mentioned first without purpose.
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This is where a lot of things go wrong for people.
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When they're no longer mesmerized and amazed of who God
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is, things become problematic. Another way of saying it is that
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the true protection that we can inherit from evil comes from
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standing in amazement of who the Lord is.
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Proverbs 813. The fear of the Lord is the
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hatred of evil. The fear of the Lord is the
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hatred of evil. That tells us more than just
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what the fear of the Lord is. That also explains what the fear
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of the Lord does. It causes you to hate evil.
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It inspires you to abhor that which God abhors.
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Whatever He loathes, you love. And anytime you find yourself
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attached or attracted to that which God hates, you can know
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this for sure. You are deficient.
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I am deficient in my awareness of the majesty of God always.
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Whenever sin looks better than the Savior, I have lost my sense
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of awe of who the Lord is. You know, I was thinking about
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different verses. I mean, when you talk about the
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concept and the truth of the fear of the Lord, so many things
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can come to mind. And there's this obscure passage
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that I've, I've preached on before, but then I saw it in a
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different light because I remember once, I don't know when
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exactly, I remember spending a time addressing the issue of
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fear, ungodly fear, and what fear inspires a man to do.
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And fear, really that emotion, when it is tolerated, leads you
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to sin in different ways. So I know I told you to go to
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Isaiah earlier, but this is so worth going to again, go to
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Isaiah and look at chapter 57, verse 11.
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Notice the specific criticism that the Lord gives through the
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prophet to the people. Whom do you dread and fear?
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So that you lied and did not Remember Me, did not lay it to
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heart, Have I not held my peace even for a long time?
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And you do not fear me. So again here you see how what
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fear can do to a person, they can encourage you to do what
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lie. Maybe you've known that
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temptation when you were faced with something and you
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understood. If I tell the truth, there are
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going to be consequences. So I'm going to exaggerate or
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I'm going to downplay this, or I might just outright deny it.
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Fear stimulates us to different sins, but the diagnosis is
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deeper than that. Look at the last part, he says,
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and you do not fear me. So it's not just the presence of
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an unrighteous fear, it's the absence of the fear of the Lord.
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So what? Because they didn't fear the
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Lord, they felt the liberty to lie.
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And the Lord says, you didn't fear me.
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That's why you succumbed to this.
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And that should be a strong reminder for us that when we do
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not have the Lord as our ultimate satisfaction, ultimate
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delight, ultimate wonder, other things that take His place will
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lead you to do things they never planned doing.
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Which brings me to the second point.
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Let's go to our main text. They didn't have an awe of God.
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But notice what we find here in verse nine.
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One word in this verse and the people of Israel did secretly
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against the Lord their God, things that were not right.
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They built for themselves high places and all their towns from
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watchtower to fortified city. What word stands out to you in
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that verse? Good secretly.
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Isn't that fascinating? The public blatant ideology of
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this people. You know where it began in
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private, you wouldn't know that apart from this verse.
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At least I can confess that because everything that we've
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seen was just out in the open. But no, in review of the sins of
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the nation, the Holy Spirit says it started in secret.
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Number two reason why people will disqualify themselves from
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God using them and blessing him with his maximum blessing.
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They live in secret sin. They live in secret sin, and
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again, I don't think it's random that the second point is
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following what we just touched on concerning the fear of the
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Lord, because when you fear the Lord, it's very hard to sin in
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secret. I firmly believe that the one
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who honors the Lord in this way will live with the following
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understanding sin and sin, whether it's private or public,
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whether it's internal or external, other people know
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about it or not, it doesn't matter because the Lord is aware
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of it. That's one of the ways you know
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that you're walking in the fear of the Lord.
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And I firmly believe that people walk away from what God has for
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them because so many have convinced themselves as long as
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other people don't know about this, I am OK.
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You're not, because God knows and he's the one who ultimately
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blesses. Promotion comes from the Lord.
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Psalm says empowerment comes from the Lord.
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True treasure comes from the Lord.
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And on the flip side, a child of God who believes I may be able
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to fool others, but I can't fool God.
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Oh, you have secured for yourself a trajectory of great
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gifts and blessing and security. I can't fool God.
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I can't. He knows what's in here.
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He knows what I think about. He knows my motives.
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Man, if you're there and you stay there, every area of your
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life will be blessed. Every area your marriage will be
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blessed. Your relationship with your
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children will be blessed. Your relationship with others
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will be blessed. Your ministry will be blessed.
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Everything will be blessed, but if you think like these
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Israelites that you can actually like a ceiling and walls can
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keep God from seeing what I'm doing, come on, who are you
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fooling? So many truths that encourage me
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in the Scriptures. Deal with the heart, where you
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have guys like Nehemiah who prayed from the heart, Abraham's
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servant looking for a wife for Isaac.
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He prayed in his heart. And that shows me every time
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that the voice in my heart is just as loud as what I'm saying
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in this microphone. It's quiet to you, but to Him is
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just as loud. That changes so much, is it not?
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We see here that the people refuse to believe that.
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And so it started secretly, but then they began to go in the
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high places. Third, reason 1/3 cause for us
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to veer off God's promises is in verse 10.
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They set up for themselves pillars and ash Him on every
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high hill and under every green tree, and we continue.
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And there they made offerings on all the high places, as the
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nations did, whom the Lord carried away before them.
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And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger.
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And they served idols of which the Lord had said to them, You
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shall not do this. Number one, there is no law of
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God #2 they sinned in secret #3 You can't expect God's full
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blessing if you imitate the world.
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Where do I get that from? Says here in the middle of verse
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11, as the nations that whom the Lord carried away before them.
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One of the most shocking verses in the New Testament regarding
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believers is what James says and James 44 You adulterous people,
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who's he speaking to? A bunch of churches, He says.
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You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the
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world is what enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be
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a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
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And the world that James is referring to speaks about the
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godless, self-centered, Antichrist value system of this
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world. He's not talking about the
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things that we see and we can enjoy in this live.
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No, he's talking about the passions, the desires, the
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ambitions of those who hate Christ.
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And when believers succumb to these things, they make
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themselves unfit for much in the Kingdom because the Lord can't
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use somebody to reach the World if they're enamored by the
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world. And that's what we find here
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with this nation that was called to be a light to the nation's.
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Now they wanted to be like the nation's.
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This the Lord had no use for them.
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How can I make you shine? How can I, how can I expect
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people to taste something different when you want to blend
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in so much? And so why does so many
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professing believers want to look like the world?
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Why do they want to cuss like the world?
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I don't understand this trend of Christians cussing.
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Why? What do you get out of that?
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Why and how are you entertained by the same vulgarity that the
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world drinks in and enjoys the ambitions of the world and at
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the same time expect testimonies.
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I'm not talking about legalism. I'm talking about blatant
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obvious things that a line has been drawn.
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This is of the world. This is of those who are in
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Christ. It won't happen.
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And you might be wondering, well, I know some people who
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have ministries and they look, they look like the world.
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They sound like the world. They're they're pretty
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culturally savvy, if you want to call it that.
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OK, fine. They have a platform.
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I can tell you this, they don't have God's power.
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OK, fine, they have money. They don't have God's favor.
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Well, they have so many coming to their meetings, fine.
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But do they really have true disciples of the Lord Jesus
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Christ or just spectators? I'm talking about the real raw
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blessing of God. I'm not talking about marketing
35:50
success. I'm not talking about physical
35:53
things. I'm talking about the deep
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things of the soul, real fruit, things that will carry out into
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eternity. I can't expect that if I'm going
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to flirt with the things that breaks my God's heart.
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So this nation wanted to be like the nation.
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So be it. You want it so badly, go live
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with them. You like idols?
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Go live with those who worship idols.
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They have plenty of them in Assyria.
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But you can't have both. Last thing, let's come back to
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our main text in verse 13. Yet the Lord warned Israel and
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Judah by every prophet and every seer saying, turn from your evil
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ways and keep My commandments and my statutes in accordance
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with all the law that I commanded your Father's and that
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I sent to you by my servants, the prophets.
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But they will not listen. But we're stubborn as their
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fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
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Let me say this before we go to this fourth point.
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You don't need to be entrenched in all of these things.
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All it takes is one of them. If I don't have an awe of God,
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that's all it takes. If, if I live in secret sin,
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that's powerful enough. If if I am imitating the world,
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that does enough damage. And though these are all
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interconnected in their ways, we can see them as separate
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threats. Here's the last one.
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If I want a definite way of stepping out of bounds of what
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God has for me, all I have to do is ignore His word, ignore God's
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word. So here's the kindness of Lord
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in verse 13. He sent prophets and every
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minister that he had, every seer, they were saying the same
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thing. It was a giant megaphone.
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Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments over and
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over again. And we got a little sample of
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the roster prophets that were there at this time.
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Guys like Jonah and Hosea and Isaiah.
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These were men who were ministering at the same time is
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incredible. And they still did what Verse
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14, the first few words, they would not listen.
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We should all be concerned for anybody on the individual or on
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a corporate level who is not sensitive to the Scriptures,
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sensitive to the Word of God. I I worry for those who are
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consistently distracted when the pure Word of God is being
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taught, no matter who's teaching it or worse, when it's heard.
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But it's never taken to heart because you see other things
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will unfold over time when a person or a society as a whole
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are exposed to the Word like this generation was, but does
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not listen, but turns a deaf ear but refuses to receive it.
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When you hear the Word of God irresponsibly, it's dangerous.
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Jesus spoke about that on so many occasions.
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Listen. What is He going to say to every
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church on Sundays as we listen? He has an ear, let Him hear.
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In other words, you can hear sounds and words but not really
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Get it? That's exactly what was
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happening here. And here is the gradual decline.
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We have an outline right here. So it starts with verse 14,
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right? But they would not listen.
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But look at the next phase, verse 15.
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They despised His statutes and His covenant that He made with
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their fathers and the warnings that He gave them.
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So you went from not listening to now despising.
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And the word despising. Here is the image of not taking
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it seriously. Yes, but the conviction that you
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once knew and praise God for is an annoyance.
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You shun it now. You turn off your conscience as
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quickly as possible. You deflect.
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You never allow it to apply to you.
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And over time your conscience becomes more and more numb,
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insensitive and things that once pierced your heart.
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And you couldn't wait for the benediction of the end of the
40:10
service so you can find some quiet place or go home early to
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get on your knees. Just bounces off of you.
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Oh, you wouldn't say it, but inside you despise it.
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It bugs you. I'm happy that I can say this
40:29
about very few experiences and not many.
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But I'll tell you how I've seen this in my own life from the
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platform. This was years ago.
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I remember seeing a specific season of somebody's life where
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they would come to church always once the meeting was over, they
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only came for the fellowship. And the only way I can explain
40:56
that was they didn't want to hear God's Word.
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It was too hot, it was too convicting.
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So I want my friends, I want my fellowship, but they didn't want
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God's Word. And I've seen that happen more
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than once. And the way they were living
41:13
backed it up that God's Word wasn't doing its work in them,
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and they didn't want to sit under God's Word.
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This can happen in different ways, but that's not even the
41:22
final step. There's another thing that takes
41:25
place. Look here at verse 16.
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And they abandoned and they abandoned all the commandments
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of the Lord their God and made for themselves metal images of
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two calves. And they made an Asherah and
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worship all the hosts of heaven and serve Baal.
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So you went from not listening to despising and now you have
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abandoned. Here's the image.
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It's no longer a negative feeling that you have.
41:51
You are now actually walking in the way of the world.
41:56
You are now pursuing the things that the world loves.
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You are now sacrificing of yourself to that which the world
42:04
sacrifices for. And for some they might be at
42:08
this phase, you know, picking and choosing certain things in
42:12
the Scriptures. Others it can be radical
42:16
apostasy. They just deny the thing
42:20
altogether. They don't want anything to do
42:22
with the Lord. And that happens unfortunately
42:24
to some. So they walk away and they
42:27
sometimes deny it. And when you when you stay there
42:31
long enough and you don't allow the word to torch the lies and
42:37
the temptations that try to callus your heart, and you don't
42:41
allow God's thunderous and comforting voice to obliterate
42:45
anything that tries to steal his goodness, his blessings from
42:49
your life, you become more vulnerable to things that you
42:55
thought were deplorable. You are now desensitized and you
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begin to entertain and even embrace things like what we read
43:04
here in verse 17. And they burned, and they burned
43:12
their sons and their daughters as offerings, and used
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divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the
43:18
sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.
43:22
Do you see it? Who would have thought that
43:25
would start with not listening would lead to burning?
43:32
Burning who? Their children.
43:35
You think this is outrageous? This is exaggerated, Is it?
43:40
Is there not a silent Holocaust happening while we're having
43:43
Bible study here in America? Is it so outlandish to believe
43:47
that there are people who are literally killing their sons and
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their daughters? Do you think such people are
43:53
listening to the word of God? No, such people have abandoned
43:57
it. And so understand when you
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deviate from this, when this does not become the means of
44:08
your worship, of your guidance, of your delight, you can go from
44:16
not listening. And the way you do that at home
44:17
is you just tuck this away. And when you come here, you're
44:22
here, but you're not really here.
44:25
And if it's really a church, a pulpit that preaches the truth,
44:29
if you're not careful, you can begin to despise.
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And there's many ways of despising the truth and all I've
44:35
seen it. It goes from despising to
44:37
abandoning, from abandoning to making decisions that can leave
44:42
scars on your life and other people's lives because it all
44:45
began with you choosing to ignore the Word of God.
44:50
So this is how the people walked away from the promised land.
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And here's how the Lord by the Spirit through the author,
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brings this section to a close in verse 18.
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Let's just read from verse 18 down to verse 23.
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Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed
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them out of His sight. None was left but the tribe of
45:13
Judah only. Judah also did not keep the
45:16
commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs
45:19
that Israel had introduced. So right there, you and I are
45:22
being prepared that Judah is headed for trouble.
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Verse 20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel,
45:29
and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of
45:32
plunderers, until he cast them in is rather cast them out of
45:36
his sight. When he had torn Israel from the
45:38
House of David, they made Jeroboam the son of the back
45:40
king, and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and
45:43
made them commit great sin. The people of Israel walked, and
45:47
all the sins that Jeroboam did, they did not depart from them
45:50
until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had
45:54
spoken by all His servants, the prophets.
45:56
So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this
46:03
day. For the rest of this chapter,
46:08
we're going to realize that Assyria didn't stop there
46:11
because although they made the land vacant and they dispersed
46:14
the people of Israel, they're going to now replace the vacancy
46:17
with their own kind of people. And the decision that is Siri
46:22
will make here will actually have effect leading up to the
46:25
days of Jesus. So I can't keep you here for
46:29
another hour, but I'll choose to leave that for next week.
46:33
I think what we heard suffices for us to digest the word of the
46:37
Lord. Help us, Lord, to examine our
46:51
hearts. And we pray, Lord, that we would
46:54
just have a renewed awe of you. We pray, Lord, that you would
47:01
never allow us to be casual with the Scriptures.
47:06
Help us fall deeper in love with you.
47:10
Thank You, Lord, that in crisis moments, even if the troubles
47:17
that we are facing come from our own sin, You watch and you wait
47:20
to be merciful to us. Help us believe that every
47:23
single time. If it's a mess that we didn't
47:26
ask for or if it's a mess that we created, help us believe that
47:29
You're blazing eyes of love look upon us and you're waiting for
47:34
us to turn to you and ask for your help.
47:38
And if that's, if that's for anybody here who finds
47:43
themselves in muck and mire, may they take this truth today and
47:48
apply it immediately. And Lord, for all of us, all of
47:53
us here, help us, Lord, stay near you.
47:56
We want our lives, this short, brief life to not be empty, but
48:02
to be filled with your life. So if there's anything that is
48:05
vain, anything that we're pursuing that's replacing you,
48:10
oh, show it to us. We will abandon it.
48:13
We will not abandon you, Lord, by your grace, keep us close to
48:16
you. So Lord, even tonight we worship
48:19
you and we worship you with hearts that are longing to have
48:23
all that you have for us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
48:27
Amen. Oh, let's worship the Lord
48:31
together. Let's stand and adore him and
48:33
love him and fear him, for He is worthy and it is for our safety.