← ArchiveSunday, January 29, 2017DateJanuary 29, 2017Speaker—Text—Passages in this sermonHosea 2:143:30Luke 1512:05TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00The End The End0:30The End The End1:00The End The End1:30The End The End2:00The End And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy.2:29Then I will say to those who are not my people, you are my people.2:56And they shall say, you are my God. So if you are joining us for the first time this week, we have been walking through the book of Hosea. In a series that is entitled, The Holiness in the Heart of God, the Holiness in the Heart of God. So if you have your Bibles with you, this passage of Scripture will make Hosea in this video and the songs that we sing that will give them perspective.3:19Hosea chapter 2, verse 14, when we're answering this question, when we're answering this question, what happens when the God's people, what happens when the Lord's people sin? So last week we look at the first half of this chapter, the immediate response of sin of Gomer, Hosea's wife.3:45And so the man that you see in the video is the picture, a modern day hipster picture of Hosea. And his wife would be Gomer. And the immediate response we have in Scripture to God's people sinning is tough love. It's judgment, it's accountability. So my sin, every iniquity, every misstep that we have has eternal consequence.4:12Everyone. So if God is holy and eternal, then every sin I have is now reverberating against his eternal holiness. And before you say, wow, that's tough, well, realize we're all in the same boat and it's sinking fast. We all have sinned. We all have fallen short of the glory of God. No one in here gets away from the all statement. So we're not preaching at anyone. We're preaching at ourselves.4:41And we see the tough love and we ask, well, why would God's word lead us immediately to judgment and indictment? That sounds harsh. That's not loving. If God is love and grace and mercy, that's not gracious. Well, we forget that the overarching narrative in Scripture is that God is holy, holy, holy. The thrice holiness of God. So to understand his love, we must understand his holiness.5:11And to understand his holiness makes his love that much more gracious and deep. So we ended our time together last week with these words. If you missed last week, you missed a doozy. God said this, I will hedge up your way with thorns. I will wall you in. I will let you seek after paths that you will not find. And so what Hosea is now preparing us for today is something that we should expect coming from verse 13.5:38So let's back up and read verse 13 really quick. The very end of verse 13, this is where we left off last week, says,6:04But me, that is Israel, Gomer, God's people, you, if you put your faith in Christ, but me, she forgot, says the Lord. So God is saying, I will wall you up with thorns. I will make you chase after things that you will not find. And me, you have forgotten. So we're expecting now an even harsher, eternal sentence. Right? God is tough love, tough love, tough love.6:32And you still did not choose me. So this is what you get. And today we find an unexpected turn. Where we should find his judgment and his wrath, we find something in Scripture that is not expected. So let's begin reading in verse 14. You say, well, Pastor, where are you going with this? Verse 14 of chapter 2. Therefore, behold, I will allure her.7:02I will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfort to her. I will give her vineyards from there and in the valley of Achor, the valley of trouble, as a door of hope. And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the days when she came up from the land of Egypt. And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call me my husband. No longer you will call me my master. The word there is Baal, Lee.7:33For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals. For they shall be remembered by their name no more. In that day I will make a covenant for them. And with the beast of the field, with the birds of the air, with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth to make them lie down safely. I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice and loving kindness and in mercy.7:57I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will answer, says the Lord. I will answer the heavens. They shall answer the earth. The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine, with oil. They shall answer Jezreel. And I will sow for myself in the earth. I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy.8:28And if you have not been with us the last several weeks, Hosea's second child, he named Lo-Ruhamah, which means no mercy. So can you imagine the tears of Hosea saying, God, you're going to change the name of my child. I will say to those who are Lo-Ami, the name of his third child, not my people, that you are my people and you shall say you are my God. I believe every time we encounter God's word, that God is calling us because his word is living and active to take a step closer to Christ or take a step back.8:59So at the end of our time together, we're going to have a time of invitation and time of response. And I want you to begin praying about right now up front, Lord, how are you going to move within me? Because it's not a question of if. It's a question of, Lord, I have seen your holy word. It is living and active. Lord, so how are you going to move? Am I going to take a step towards faith and trust in Christ?9:26Or am I going to take a step back towards Josh and selfishness and my person? Let's pray together. Father, prepare our hearts to respond to you. That us unfaithful people will hear the words, you are mine. That us, people who deserve no mercy, will find mercy. And Lord, that we would deepen our trust in you, knowing that Jesus Christ died on the cross.9:53It is finished, he said. That we might have life and life more abundant. That our sins might be forgiven and that we might walk past the righteousness for your namesake. So, Lord, we ask that you move us this morning. Help us understand your word and help us live it out. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, first we see this about God's tender love. So, last week we saw God's tough love and this week we see God's tender love.10:23The first thing we see about God's tender love in Scripture is that he pursues. So, if we see the love story in Hosea, we see the pursuit here. I love the picture of Hosea sitting there and he gets that phone call. And when he gets the phone call, what does he do? You know what? She doesn't deserve me to come down, but I'm going to come down because I love her. And this is what God does with Israel.10:52This is what God does in our life. That when we do not deserve mercy, God says, I'm still pursuing you. Look at verse 14. Verse 13 says, But me she forgot, says the Lord. You have forgotten me, therefore. So, what are we expecting? The hammer is going to be dropped. And God reminds us, Therefore, behold, I will allure. You know, that adverb, thus, we talked about it last week. It occurs about 100 plus times in the Old Testament.11:22And it means two things. There's either judgment to follow or there's a promise. And here, God gives a glorious promise of his tender love and assurance. He says, the Lord, I will allure her. You see, God's tender love for us is surprising. Because we are unlovable. Don't look around at your neighbors thinking, man, pastor's talking about you today. No, we.11:53No, we. Look in the mirror, right? We are unlovable. No, we don't deserve verse 14. We have run away from God. And God reminds us, don't worry. I am pursuing you. Jesus Christ echoes this in the New Testament in Luke 15. I love what is happening in Luke 15. If you want to turn there quickly, you can. But we have some church folk coming to Jesus Christ. And they're complaining. I mean, that's hard to believe. But church people complaining. You know, the Pharisees are very steeped in the law.12:23They know the law. And this is their complaint. Verse 2. They complain. It said, Jesus receives sinners and he eats with them. So Jesus says, let me tell you what. I'm not going to reprimand you. I'm going to tell you three stories. So he says, just follow along with me, Pharisees. Church people, listen to this. He said, this is the love of the Father for those that are in need. This is the pursuit of tender love. He said, I'm going to give you one story. It's about a sheep.12:53You have a hundred of them. He says, which one of you, if you had a hundred sheep and one wanders away, would not go and find that one lost sheep? Which of you would not pursue the one lost sheep? And he said, when you find that, you would call all your neighbors and friends and you would rejoice. He says, I say to you in verse 7, that there will be much more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.13:19And I can imagine at that point they're thinking, okay, who is this? Jesus. He said, let me tell you a second story about the pursuit of God's tender love. It's like a woman, a widow who has lost a coin. It's a very valuable coin. And so she looks everywhere. She sweeps the entire house, verse 8 through 10, for that coin. And once she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors and she says, rejoice with me.13:46The coin has been found. And likewise, Jesus says, there is joy in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents. And you can imagine the church people saying, okay, we get it. He says, let me tell you a third story. There's a dad, a really wealthy dad, who had two sons. One son was older and he was the responsible son. You don't have to guess which one I am.14:16All right, I'm the oldest child. But he can be a little stiff, programmatic, stiff-necked. The youngest son was a free spirit. And the youngest son comes to dad and says, dad, I know you haven't died yet, but permit me just to take the money that I would get when you died. And he said, okay, son, I'll give you that. And the son goes and he blows everything he has. And there's a great famine in the land and he's to the point where he's eating what the hogs are eating.14:44And he says, it would be almost better to die than to eat this. So I'm going to go back to dad's house and I'm going to beg to be a servant, a slave. And what we see in scripture is astounding. We see in verse 20, so the man goes up to see his father, but while his son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion.15:04And, you know, we wonder how did the dad see the son when he was far off? Did he have 20, 15 vision? Did he have GPS hidden on his car? How did he know or was he already looking for the day that the son will return?15:32This is the tender love of Christ in our lives. He is pursuing you. Now, let me just say this. This is not about the pursuit of God as a church. If heaven rejoices when one person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, if heaven rejoices when a sinner repents, we better rejoice. If heaven's going to have a party, I want to be invited. So when someone comes and they are torn up and Christ brings them, we shouldn't say, well, you know what, we'll just see if it's real.15:59Well, we'll wait and see. Well, you can wait and see, but we're going to miss the party. We should rejoice when one lost comes to faith, knowing that the father is pursuing them, because if you have put your faith in Christ, you were that sheep. You were the coin. We were the lost son. So I just want to remind you today is God's tender love.16:30If you are here and you do not believe in Jesus Christ, and you say, I don't believe the thing that God's word has in it, that's your right. It's your right to be wrong, but it's your right. You say, you know what, I just don't believe in faith. I want you to know that God is still pursuing you right now. And you can look at us, I don't believe the thing in God's word. Why are you here? Because God is pursuing you. Because he loves you. That's his tender love.17:00Maybe you're here and you're steeped in legalism. You're a church person. You have a three-piece suit. And you are holding fast to a decision you made 80 years ago, and you have never been changed. And you are lost as the darkness of any night. I want you to know God is pursuing you. God doesn't care what member of church you are. He wants to know that you have put your faith in Jesus Christ. And when you come to repentance, and you take that suit off, and you let down your guard, and you say, Lord, I've been playing church.17:28But you knew it was a game. And Lord, I'm going to put my faith in you. He will rejoice. He is pursuing you. If you are the one who is broken today, and your life is utterly in chaos, know that Christ is pursuing you right now. And know he will welcome you with open arms. And maybe you're here and you say, well, those categories don't belong to me.17:57God's doing great things in my life. And I'm rejoicing today. I rejoice with you because I'm in that place right now. But God's not pursuing you. If you put your faith in Christ, he's still pursuing you. And we can rejoice in that, saying, Lord, thank you for your tender love. Because the reality of Scripture is this, that I cannot run fast enough or far enough to run away from God's love. What a glorious thought that is.18:27And we might ask, well, when does God pursue us? At what point in my life? Does he wait till I, you know, if I'm in the sheep, does he wait till I run away from the coin? Does he wait till I jump out of the bag? Or at what point does God pursue us? Hosea gives us an answer. Hosea reminds us that God will allure her. God is pursuing you. He said, I will bring her into the wilderness. I will bring comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there in the valley of Achor, which means the valley of trouble, as a door of hope.18:55You see, the wilderness was a place of utter destruction and dryness. But it was also a place where Israel learned to completely trust in God. So God can pursue us in difficulty or he can pursue us in a place where we are in hope. So if you're in trouble today, know that God is pursuing you. If you are hopeful, know that God is pursuing you. This is the beauty of the love of our Savior, that God says, do not give up.19:24You see, the wilderness was a very important juncture in the life of Israel. The valley of Achor is where the sin of Achan happened. It was right after Jerusalem. I don't know if you remember, but God did a great thing in Israel's life. They go up to this fortified city, Jericho, and God says, you're going to take over this fortification. You're working your way to the promised lands. But you have to defeat this city and it's walled in.19:54You can't defeat it on your own. Say, here's the game plan. I want you to march around it and sing. Just trust me. This is what the Lord is telling Joshua. Go tell the people, march around it. So they march around it one day. He says, go march around it again. And they march around it. And they keep doing it. And the people of Jericho are thinking, these foolish, foolish Israelites. What are they going to do? Think we're going to get dizzy? And so they march around the last day seven times.20:24And they let out a great shout to the Lord. And guess what happens? The walls of the most fortified city in the region fall down. And the people are dismayed. And God's people just destroy the fortification. But in that, God told them, look, this is my victory. Don't touch anything. You're going to walk in and you're going to see gold. And I know you're attracted to shiny things.20:51Don't touch it. Now, before you point fingers, if someone saw a gold bullion on the road, you're going to stop by and pick it up. So Achan gets it and he hides it and God just gives a heavy hand to his people. And so this valley is a place for the longest time that God's people remember. This is where A.I., this is where Achan and his family died because they were unfaithful. But this valley was also a gate to the promised lands.21:17So the gates of destruction was also the gate of the promised lands. Which reminds me that if we put our trust in Christ, the gates of our trouble also can lead in Christ to gates of hope. So if you're here and you say, well, you don't know what I'm going through. I don't, but the Lord does. If you give it to him, if you trust him, that the gate of trouble, the valley of trouble can be the valley of hope and resurrection.21:44What a beautiful truth that is. What we see, though, in Scripture is this. No matter the wilderness that you're walking through, that God pursues you. And what we do not have after this beautiful thought, after God's words is, I will pursue you. You will sing. In verse 15, as in the days of your youth. Where is the response from Israel?22:14Anyone finds? God is telling them, look, you are unfaithful. You have rejected me. And therefore, I will pursue you. I will take you from the valley of trouble to the valley of hope. And God's people said, I wish. I wish. God's people here in Scripture say, the silence is good. Nothing. Which reminds me that when God works in our life, he asks us to respond.22:42So how are we going to respond? I pray today that we will leave here, that you will find comfort, that you will find hope, that you will leave here saying, Lord, restore me. Thank you for pursuing me. God, you know what I did this week. And God says, but I'm still pursuing you. You say, well, Lord, you know I don't even believe. And God says, but I'm pursuing you. I'm giving you breath. The mind that you have of disbelief, I'm giving you the thoughts. I'm giving you the strength to think about the God you don't even believe in.23:11So the God you don't believe in is the God that's giving you strength not to believe in me. Because he's pursuing us. And may we say, Lord, pursue us. May we find your tender love. He pursues you. He is pursuing you today. We see this about his tender love. Not only do we see the pursuit, but we see in Scripture that God expects and allows a confession.23:36Verse 16, he allows a confession in our life. It shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call me my husband. And you will no longer call me my master. So in the Hebrew, what's going on there? You will call me husband. You will no longer call me Baali, my master. Because you have pledged your allegiance to Baal.24:04So don't call me that anymore. Call me husband. Call me the one true God. Verse 17, for I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, and they shall be remembered no more. You see, in God's tender love, he requires a confession that he is the one true God. We are not all, actually none of us are born God's children, but we all have the right to be sons of God in Jesus Christ. So we ask for a confession.24:33It's repeated in the New Testament, this idea of confession, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Not you might be saved. Not that you will wonder if you will be saved. Not that it will lead you down the steps of salvation. That if you confess God as one and true and holy, if you confess Christ as the answer, we will be saved. But we must confess. So you ask, then, what is a confession?25:04Let me give you another question to answer the question you gave me. Here's what a confession is not, and church people, listen up. If you are unchurched and you just wandered in here today, thank you for being here, this is not for you. This is for church people. We have a struggle and a tendency to hang our hats on a one-time confession. That is not what God's word requires of us. God's word does not say, Josh, confess me one day 20 years ago and just live a normal life.25:30That is not confession. God's word doesn't say, just make a decision. God's pursuing you. Look, if you just made a decision today, don't worry about hell. You'll escape hell. Just make a decision. That is not a confession of Christ. A confession is, Lord, you are first and foremost in my life. And I am taking a step to Christ, meaning I am taking a step away from myself.25:57So it is not a one-time confession. It is a lifestyle of confessing. That my confession now leads me down a path of confessing. And so if you don't have that pattern in your life, if you've been hanging your hat on a confession you made a long, long time ago, and your life has been unchanged, you don't know the Jesus Christ I know. Because Jesus I know says, I know, says that if you are in me, the old has passed, the new has come.26:23Behold, he is making all things new. Nicodemus, he says, you must be born again. I know when I was born, my life started and changed at that moment. So are we making a lifestyle of confession? See, the confessing of Christ as Lord necessitates that I no longer call on other things as Lord. So we see in Scripture that I can't confess Christ as Lord.26:51I can't say, God, you are my Lord. You are my husband. But I really like that. God, I love you, but I really love myself. God, I love you, but I'm not going to have a pure heart. Guess what God's word? He requires devotion. That is what a confession is. I remember the day that I stood in front of the church and declared my love and commitment to my wife, who is here today. And actually, the pastor that married us is here today.27:20I didn't stand up there and confess my devotion to her. And it ended at the altar. I didn't say, baby, I love you. And then we played, I think we played James Brown to end our service, right? I feel good. And then we went, whoa. And then, but we didn't say, you know what? Glad that's over. Man, I'm glad I made that confession, Lord.27:49But is that not what we do sometimes with Christ? That we say, Lord, I'm going to make a confession and our life is not changed. That confession at the altar in our marriage was a lifetime of commitment in sickness and in health. Forsaking all others. So not only was it a vow of commitment, but it was also, not only will I seek my wife, Casey, but I will not seek others. Forsaking all others. That is the same with Christ. That is why marriage is a sign of God's love for his people.28:19That is why Christ calls the church his bride. That's why I want everyone to be involved in a body of Christ. Because if you don't love the church as you are a part of it, you're not loving the bride of Christ. And so are we living a lifestyle of commitment and confession and in that forsaking all others? This is what God requires. But he doesn't say, do it in your strength. He says, I will take it from your mouth.28:47He says, if you trust me, I will help you with that. I will help you forsake yourself. I've had 34 years of living for me. Some of you are a lot longer practice. So God needs to help me. God needs to help take the strength because I want to lean towards me. And God says, no, trust me and I will help you lean in faith. Remember your confession. Remember that I pursued you. And I remember when you confessed me, that led down a road of confession.29:15Are you confessing Christ? Constantly being watered by the word. Because the truth is, we will not confess him as Lord if we do not have a change of heart. This is why Jesus says, from the overflow of your heart, your mouth speaks. Because if your heart's not in it, your confession is null. It is nothing. So I'm not asking you to question your salvation. But if you're not saved, if you don't believe, I'm asking you to question your unbelief.29:43I'm asking you to question your church membership. I'm asking you to question the confession that you made that wasn't real. That we might say, Lord, you rejoice when a sinner comes to repentance. He is pursuing you. He gives us the option to confess. He gives us the strength to. We also see this in his tender love. Verse 18. That we see the pursuit, we see the confession, and we see the covenant.30:09If you say, well, I don't know if I belong to that category. Well, maybe you're here with the beast of the field, with the birds of the air, with the creeping things of ground, with bow and sword of battle, I will shatter from the earth to make them lie down safely. You see, when we enter into a relationship with God, it's not your normal relationship.30:34It's a covenant. And this is what the covenant of God looks like. It is a binding agreement between two people. That's the tender love of Christ. That when we confess and we now enter into that relationship, the covenant is reinforced because God shows us intimacy and reflects a context of peace.31:02Look at the covenant that he gives to Israel here, to Gomer, to his people. He said, I will make a covenant for them with the beast of the field, with the birds of the air, with the creeping things of the ground, with the bow, sword, I will shatter to the earth. These are all things in their life that would cause chaos. When you were a farmer, when animals would come trample your farms, that was an issue.31:33When you're a farmer planting crops and the birds would come eat the seeds, that's an issue. When you don't have military around you and there are invading armies, that's a problem. They didn't have the doorbell cameras where you could look up on your phone and say, who's at the door? They didn't have those home security systems. So God is saying, if you would trust in me, I will keep you safe and secure.31:59And the greatest security is everlasting life in Jesus Christ. That doesn't begin when you die. Everlasting life begins in the moment that I confess Christ. Everlasting life begins now, not tomorrow. That God says, I have entered a covenant with you. I will keep you. I will watch you. God's covenant also is not one of peace, but it is one of eternality.32:27It is forever. Look at verse 19. I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me forever. We need to hear that. Because we are prone when we fall short again. If you have entered into a relationship with Christ, we are prone to forget that it's not forever. So we think that when I sin, that in Christ, now that my relationship is broken, no, sin in Christ is forever covered, atoned for by the finishing work on the cross.32:56If you have put your faith in him, confess to him as Lord. But why should we then confess? Because if I bring anger home, I'm still married, but it hinders my relationship. There always has to be restoration and forgiveness. If I have wronged my wife and we never deal with it, there's going to be a wedge in our marriage.33:25We're still married, but I need to get my act together and ask for forgiveness. That's repentance. That's confession. That's the relationship we have with the Lord. That when we sin, that if we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive. So I want you to know this morning, and this is a beautiful truth. If you are in a relationship with the Father through Jesus the Son, how long does your relationship last? How long is the covenants?33:55Forever. Can anyone think of anything that is outside the realm of forever? If you do, see me after church. What a wonderful truth that is. To say nothing. Not time. Not death. God, you pursued me when I was unworthy. And when I still am unworthy in Christ, you are keeping me in covenant relationship. To you be the glory. But he does not leave his children empty-handed.34:24When we enter into a relationship with God, he does not leave us empty-handed. Look at verse 19. He said, I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness. You know, God brings to the table in our relationship righteousness. Righteousness is a warmer and more positive thing than we could have ever have dared to hope or dream of. Righteousness is God looking at us and saying, you're okay.34:53You are made right. And on top of that, he brings now justice in our relationship. Justice is looking at guilty sinners. By the way, we are it. God looking at us and saying, you are guilty. But in Jesus Christ, your sentence has been paid. The wrath of God has been satisfied. He said, I bring that into the relationship.35:21God does not come to the relationship empty-handed. He also brings loving kindness. Loving kindness is an affectionate, almost a spontaneous love for his people. That God doesn't just deal with you because he has to, because he's God. He loves you. He loves us because he sent his son to die for us. Think about that. How much love does it take to let your child die for someone? How much love does it take for you to let your child die for someone that you know will never love you back?35:49I can't fathom that because I don't have that love in me. Because I'm not God. He loves us with his loving kindness. He is merciful. Mercy is a loving sensitivity. Why does God want us to pray? Because he is sensitive to his children. He cares about you. But when you're struggling, God wants you, cast your anxieties upon him.36:16Be anxious in nothing but in everything. Pray. Cast your cares upon the Father because he cares for you. We're not a burden to God. If you think, well, I've prayed about that before. He doesn't want to hear me. He does. He's sensitive. If my child ran in here right now and said, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, I would probably give ear to what he's saying. Because I'm sensitive to my son. As God is even more sensitive to you.36:43Seek him. He does not come to the relationship empty handed. And he also brings, look at this, verse 19 and 20. Loving kindness, mercy, I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. Can you imagine Gomer hearing that? Can you imagine an unfaithful wife to Hosea and an unfaithful people to God hearing, by the way, you've been unfaithful, but I bring faithfulness to the relationship.37:07That is the greatness of our God. Of all the qualities, this is the most clearly lacking in a partner who has quit. You see, when we sin, that is as if we say to God, God, I'm quitting on you. God, I just, I don't trust. God, I'm weak.37:37I quit. And when God enters into a relationship with his people, he says this, you might quit on me, but I will not quit on you. That is tender love. That is a love that says, I care. He says, this is it, it is eternal. Do you know the love of Christ in your life in that way? He pursues you with his tender love. He enters into a covenant because of his tender love.38:04He allows you to confess him as Lord because of your tender love, his tender love. And lastly, verse 21, we see this. God responds to you because of his tender love. It shall come to pass in that day that I will answer, says the Lord. And I will answer the heavens and they will answer the earth and the earth shall answer. And you say, well, what is the answer? Verse 23.38:34Verse 23. Then I will sow for myself in the earth. Now, if you've been here for several weeks, you realize that Gomer had three kids. Hosea had three kids. The first was Jezreel, which means to scatter or to sow. The second one means no mercy. And the third child is beautiful child, means not mine. Three children scattered, no mercy, not mine. All three go to your room. And yet God says, this is my answer to my people.39:02That I will sow for myself in the earth. Jezreel. I will not scatter you anymore. I will sow seeds in your life. I will answer you. I will not show you no mercy. But if you come to me, I will now show you mercy. And I will say to those who are not my people, you are my people. That is God's answer because of his tender love.39:29So I ask you this morning, we're going to have a time of response. Are you living in covenant relationship with the Lord? I didn't ask about church. I didn't ask what you've done in your life. Are you in a covenant relationship with the Lord? And exhibiting that in a pattern and a lifestyle of confession. You say, well, I think I did several years ago and nothing's changed much.39:58You can't experience the grace of God and not be changed, radically changed. And so if you're wondering today, maybe the Holy Spirit is prompting you saying, look, you didn't really believe and pursuing you enter into a covenant relationship through the confession of my son, Jesus Christ. Are you living a joyful life in his covenant through the finished work of Christ?40:23You know, I'm just burdened. Sometimes as church people, we forget that God is gracious. That should never grow old. Sometimes the older we get in Christ, we forget how to party. And we forget that when someone comes to faith, that they are celebrating in heaven. And we celebrate like this, right? We do the golf clap. I just pray for us this morning that God will restore the joy in our life.40:52That they look at us dancing through the streets and say, what's wrong with you people? We say, we don't know, but his name is Christ. And he's forgiven me of my sins. It's an eternal relationship. I brought nothing to the table. And he instead brought justice and mercy and righteousness and loving kindness. That he's sensitive to us. That when we call, he responds in his tender love. Do you have joy because of that covenant?41:22You should. If you've lost your joy, it's not his fault. And I pray that he would fan into flame in your life this morning, his spirit. That when we respond, we say, Lord, I'm going to take a step closer to you today, not a step back. Remember that God is pursuing you. And maybe you're here today and you are in that category of not my people. You don't care about God. You don't care about church. You don't care about the songs that we sing.41:51You don't care about the sin that you commit. You just care about you. I want you to know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. That he loves you that much. That if you would realize your sin and say, Jesus, I don't have all the answers, but I know that you do. And that I'm going to put my faith and trust in you this morning. That if you confess him as Lord, you will be saved.42:15I'm going to ask you this morning where you sit if you have not confessed him as Lord to do that. I can't confess him for you. And we're going to pray shortly and we're going to have a time of response. If you have given your life to Christ for the first time, we would love for you to make that public today. And when you do, we are going to celebrate like this church might not have ever seen before. And we're going to do so for the glory of the Lord.42:45Maybe you have not taken the steps in baptism. Next week, we're going to have a celebration service. And we already have people that are going to be a part of that. Maybe you have never been bold in your faith to get baptized. I would love for you to be a part. We call it a celebration service because we celebrate when people take those steps in their faith. Know that he died for you to be bold in the faith because he has given you that. I would love to talk with you this week. Call me, email me, come forward today. But do not miss a chance to respond to his grace and to his mercy.43:15This is the tender love of our Savior. That he loves you so much that he enters into a covenant relationship through the confession of his Son. That we might proclaim he is Lord. Let's pray.
