01 Sep 2024 pm: The Father Who Fights For His Children

preaching to us and we are in the book of Leviticus this evening and we have plenty of visitor bibles at the sides, at the back, so if you don't have a bible with you, please do grab one of the visitor bibles.

And that's page 104, if you're using one of those visitor bibles.

Leviticus 25, and we're reading just the very last verse of chapter 25 and then through into chapter 26.

So, Leviticus 25 and verse 55.

Do not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.

You shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season.

And the land shall yield its increase and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

Your threshing.

Shall last to the time of the grape harvest and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing.

And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.

I will give peace in the land and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid.

And I will remove harmful beasts from the land and the sword shall not go through your land.

You shall chase your enemies.

And they shall.

They shall fall before you by the sword.

Five of you shall chase a hundred and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand and your enemy shall fall before you by the sword.

I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.

You shall eat old, store, long kept and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.

I will make my dwelling among you.

And my soul shall not abhor you and I will walk among you and will be your God and you shall be my people.

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that you should not be their slaves.

And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

But if you will not listen to me.

And will not do.

If you will not do all these commandments.

If you spurn my statutes and if your soul abhors my rules so that you will not do all my commandments but break my covenant.

Then I will do this to you.

I will visit you with panic.

With wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache.

And you shall sow your seed in vain.

For your enemies shall eat it.

I will set my face against you.

And you shall be struck down before your enemies.

Those who hate you shall rule over you.

And you shall flee when none pursues you.

And if in spite of this you will not listen to me.

Then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins.

And I will break the pride of your power.

And I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

And your strength shall be spent in vain.

For your land shall not yield its increase.

And the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.

Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me.

I will continue striking you sevenfold for your sins.

And I will let loose the wild beasts against you which shall bereave you of your children.

And destroy your livestock and make you few in number.

So that your roads shall be deserted.

And if by.

By this discipline you are not turned to me.

But walk contrary to me.

Then I also will walk contrary to you.

And I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.

And I will bring a sword upon you.

That shall execute vengeance for the covenant.

And if you gather within your cities.

I will send pestilence among you.

And you shall be delivered into the hands of the enemy.

When I break your supply of bread.

Ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven.

And shall dole out your bread again by weight.

And you shall eat.

And not be satisfied.

But if in spite of this you will not listen to me.

But walk contrary to me.

Then I will walk contrary to you in fury.

And I will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.

You shall eat the flesh of your sons.

And you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.

And I will destroy your high places.

And cut down your incense altars.

And cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols.

And my soul will abhor you.

And I will lay your cities waste.

And will make your sanctuaries desolate.

And I will not smell your pleasing aromas.

And I myself will devastate the land.

So that your enemies who settle in it shall be abhorred at it.

And I will scatter you among the nations.

And I will unsheathe the sword after you.

And your land shall be a desolation.

And your city shall be a waste.

Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbath as long as it lies desolate.

While you are in your enemy's land.

Then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.

As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest.

The rest that it did not have on the Sabbath when you were dwelling in it.

And as for those of you who are left.

I will send faintness into their hearts and the lands of their enemies.

the sound of a driven leaf

shall put them to flight

they shall flee as one flees from the sword

and they shall fall when none pursues

they shall stumble over one another

as if to escape a sword though none pursues

and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies

and you shall perish among the nations

and the land of your enemies shall eat you up

and those of you who are left

shall rot away in your enemies' lands

because of their iniquity

and also because of the iniquities of their fathers

they shall rot away like them

but if they confess their iniquity

and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery

that they committed against me

and also in walking contrary to me

so that I walked contrary to them

and brought them into the land of their enemies

if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled

and they make amends for their iniquity

then I will remember my covenant with Jacob

and I will remember my covenant with Isaac

and my covenant with Abraham

and I will remember the land

but the land shall be abandoned by them

and enjoy its Sabbath while it lies desolate without them

and they shall make amends for their iniquity

because they spurn my rules

and their soul abhorred my statutes

yet for all that

when they are in the land of their enemies

I will not spurn them

neither will I abhor them

so as to destroy them utterly

and break my covenant with them

for I am the Lord their God

but I will for their sake

remember the covenant with their forefathers

whom I brought out of the land of Egypt

in the sight of the nations

that I might be their God

I am the Lord

these

are the statutes and rules and laws

the Lord made between himself

and the people of Israel through Moses

on Mount Sinai

well amen

may God bless his word to us

good evening all

please keep your Bibles open at Leviticus 26

as we go through this rather somber chapter together

do you know

through the highs and lows of parenting

one of the things I find consistently most difficult

is discipline

time and time again

when a little one misbehaves

it gets to a point where something needs to be done

whatever form that takes

whether it's the naughty step

taking away privileges

or grounding them

or anything in between

it never comes easy

as it's not what we want to do as parents

we want to do what we want to do as parents

want to give them good things, to bless them, to show them kindness. But, as any good parent

will tell you, there is good reason for this discipline. We don't do it because we enjoy

or relish it. Far from it. Anyone who does enjoy or relish discipline has lost the big

picture, and is probably the last person who should be doing it, as they're likely to lash

out in anger. But we discipline because we love our children, and any normal parent knows

that. Our kids may not understand that and feel like we're fighting against them, but

even we hate them. But we know ourselves that we are fighting for our children as we discipline

them. As we hear in the book of Proverbs, whoever spares the rod hates his son, but

he who loves him.

is diligent to discipline him. We do it precisely because we love them and want to bless them.

Good and measured discipline always comes from a place of love, wanting to avoid greater

harm further down the line. And here we have a chapter in which God's fatherhood is center

stage. That's his role here. He's not a punisher of his people, venting his frustration, but

he's shown to be the father of his children, raising his children, and he's shown to be

the father of his children. And he's shown to be the father of his children, raising

them, to bless them, and enjoy good and hearty life in his name. So what kind of father is

he? Well, he is the father who loves to bless his people and loves to be with his people,

to be generous to them, to protect them and grant them all they need in this life and

the next. He's not stingy, not grumpy, not reluctant to give his people anything good,

but is full of grace and love, which he makes known through his blessings.

He's the father who truly knows how to give good gifts to his children and who loves doing so.

And he does so through this pattern of blessings and curses, where obedience brings blessing

and disobedience brings curses. And as we go through this passage together, it's helpful to

have two vistas of fulfillment in mind of how this applies to Israel then and to us as the church

today.

Israel as a nation are the first people we need to consider. The Lord is the God of Israel.

This covenantal agreement was given directly to the people of God, and this was how they were to

relate to him, with obedience bringing blessings and disobedience bringing curses. This sets the

pattern for the rest of the Old Testament era. But secondly, we need to consider us today as the

church. Today, God is the Lord of the church.

We need to consider how we might expect to see the Lord's blessing if we walk with him,

or how the Lord might discipline us if we as a widespread group deny him and worship the idols

of this day instead. We are not a nation-state like Israel, so can't expect to see exactly the

same blessings and curses as was true for Israel then, but we will see a pattern of how the Lord

might interact and bless his church today.

We need to keep these in mind as we go through this passage, because our obedience matters, and the

Lord cares about how we respond to his grace. Sometimes we might think to ourselves that our

obedience doesn't really matter at all because, well, the world keeps spinning and we presume that

God's going to bless us anyway. But this passage makes clear that the blessing of God is tied to

our treatment of his law, revealed in the scriptures for us.

So, we'll split our passage into three sections, seeing firstly blessings, then discipline,

and the final word goes to hope. So, we'll see firstly, looking at verses 1-13, the blessing

of obedience. And here we see that obedience to the Lord brings Edenic bliss, found chiefly

in knowing and loving and serving him. This whole chapter is about the blessing of God,

and this whole chapter is bookended in God's gracious work of salvation, almost enveloping it in grace.

He is the God who, last verse of chapter 25, has redeemed them from slavery, and that's echoed in 2645.

He's redeemed them from slavery, rescuing them from Egypt. And he reminds Israel of this, because

this covenant, yes, it is conditional, but it is rooted in grace. We'll misunderstand this completely

if we lose sight of that. If we think that this is conditional alone, then we may begin to think

that our obedience earns blessing. But that ignores the fact that we have been saved by

God's grace in the first place. This is conditional, yes, but it's always rooted in grace.

And the Lord begins by reminding Israel what they are saved for. That's what you see in verses 1 and

2. They function as a summary of the Ten Commandments, beginning this

agreement with some of the laws given at Mount Sinai, focused on the Lord's worship. Verse 1,

don't worship any idols, and verse 2, worship the Lord instead. And there's a sense in which

these commands are representative of the rest of the Ten, but in another sense, these are the front

door to all the commandments, and obedience to them indicates where a person's trust is.

Worshipping the Lord on his day, as part of his

people, and worshipping no one else, shows where a person's loyalty is, and who they belong to.

Then the covenant conditions come, and in these blessings, the Lord paints a picture of Eden,

recalling language used in the Genesis account, to give his people an emotive picture of what life

lived in obedience to him is like. So if you, verse 3, walk in God's ways, observe and do his

commandments, well, we're going to see that. We're going to see that. We're going to see that. We're going to

see that. We're going to see that. We're going to see that. We're going to see that. We're going to see that.

And this isn't setting the bar too high. The Lord is not setting an impossible standard, but is

asking for a true, repentant obedience, where the people of God listen to, and do his will,

and repent, say sorry, when we sin against him. Then, verse 4 and 5,

you will have more than enough food to eat. The rains will come, crops will grow,

and your plate will never be empty.

Verse 6, there will be peace in the land. You'll dwell securely, and no one will make you afraid.

No wild beasts, no war in your nation. Verses 7 and 8, your enemies, well, they will be terrified

of you, and you'll defeat them even when overwhelmingly outnumbered. War tactics go

out the window. Five of you will overcome a hundred. A hundred will chase away ten thousand,

with the result never-ending.

Verse 9, you will be fruitful and multiply, echoing both the Eden command and the covenant

the Lord made with Abraham. Verse 10, you'll have even more food than you need, having to

throw out the old store. There's almost more coming, and it's getting hard to find space to

put it. But all of these are just preambles to the blessing of verses 11 to 13. This is the key

promise, verse 11.

I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you

and will be your God, and you shall be my people. Again, there is one picture that the Lord is

giving his people here in their minds, and that is Eden. As the Lord and his people live together

at peace, with the Lord himself even going for walks in the cool of the day to have a conversation

with his people.

The tabernacle would still be his residence, but he wouldn't be confined to it,

but walking around freely, enjoying the company of his people.

But this is here as a reminder that the Lord God is the source of all of these other blessings.

They are not merely the predictable patterns of weather systems, or political movements,

or army strategy, but the blessing of the Lord shining upon his people,

working his way through these means that he uses.

We so often reduce everything in our created world to these neutral terms like weather patterns and

political change, decisions we make. But the Lord was clear with Israel that he was responsible for

all these blessings. And he's given them these blessings that they might, end of verse 13,

walk tall, chin up, heads held high,

they're not slaves, they don't have to be victims anymore. They're not to have a victim mentality,

but they are free men and women walking tall because they have been redeemed by the Lord and

are able to live like they were always destined to. No longer crushed by their oppressive Egyptian

taskmasters, but free to obey the Lord and walk tall with him. And what a world that would be to

live in.

And for Israel, for brief moments in their history, they did experience something like this.

Particularly at the height of David and Solomon's reign,

they knew the peace, security, and abundant blessing that came from trusting and obeying the

Lord. Now, this doesn't mean that if we are faithful, then everything will be wonderful

and easy for us, and we will face no troubles. Of course, that's not the case. And very sadly,

this passage is not the case. It's not the case. It's not the case. It's not the case. It's not the

case. It's not the case. It's not the case. It's not the case. It's not the case. It's not the

favorite haunt of preachers of the prosperity gospel, saying that if you have faith and do

God's will, then all your earthly desires, all your earthly dreams will come true.

And now that doesn't account for reality of life in a fallen world. And crucially,

it doesn't treat the passage fairly. Because this passage is not addressed individually to

each individual Israelite, promising to solve all their problems, but to the corporate group,

to everyone.

To the whole people of God, to show a trend towards blessing, showing that the Lord's favor

is on his faithful people. The Bible is quite unashamed about that, that there is a kind of

blessing and good order that comes from living faithfully as believers, as people who listen to

and do the commandments of the Lord. Why not read the commandment to honor your parents,

which comes with a blessing, or read the book of Proverbs, which is full,

of blessings that will come if you obey the Lord. And isn't that what Jesus means when he says,

don't be anxious, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?

The Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be

added to you.

The greatest blessing,

we ever could have, the blessings that really matter, the blessings we really need,

are found in listening to the word of God and doing his will. Because that is the path to a

life well lived. The Lord's law is the way to the life of blessing. And so what Moses wants Israel

to do is clear. He wants them to choose blessing. Don't choose curses. He paints this picture of

Edenic bliss so that the people will be,

coming towards it, desiring the fruit of faithful obedience to the Lord, desiring the blessing of

God himself. And next we'll turn to the consequences for disobedience as we look at the kindness of

discipline in verses 14 to 39. And here we see that the Lord of creation will use everything at

his disposal to draw his people back to the path of salvation.

There are a series of escalating curses that follow if Israel continues in her disobedience and refuses to

listen to the Lord, repenting of her sin. Verse 14, he says,

But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes and your soul abhors my

rules so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you.

And what is clear from that description is that this is not painting a picture of one individual

Israelite person sinning and being punished. Instead, this is congregation-wide sin for the

people of God, flagrantly sinning to his face. Verse 14, they won't listen to him.

Verse 15, they hate him and break the covenant. Verse 21,

they walk contrary to, they walk against the Lord's ways, instead embracing the ways of this

world of this age. Verse 30, there is rampant idolatry. Verse 40, treachery against God,

spanning generations, generational sin. This is serious and sustained nationwide sin against the

Lord, where they are taking his blessings for granted and repeatedly, time and time again,

saying, no.

I don't want to listen to you. I want to go my own way.

And so, God's response to this sin is carefully measured. He's not lost his rag,

but is carefully ensuring that the discipline fits the sin.

There are, broadly speaking, five curses that follow, which mirror the blessings of covenant

obedience in verses 3 to 13, but turns them all on their head, showing that walking away from the

Lord means walking away from his blessing. So, firstly, there's the curse of disease and defeat

in verses 14 and 17. When Israel first refuses to listen to the Lord, instead of chasing away

their enemies easily, their enemies will eat of their crops and rule over them. Verse 18 to 20,

there's the curse of drought. If this continues and they still will not listen, instead of the rains,

coming in their seasons, the heavens will be like iron and the earth like bronze, with no food to

eat. Verses 21 and 22, there is the curse of wild beasts. If this continues and they still will not

listen, instead of the wild beasts being away from them, they will freely roam the land and attack

their children and their livestock, too. Verses 23 to 26, there is the curse of devastation.

If this continues and they still will not listen to the Lord, instead of knowing peace,

their enemies will rule over them, as the Lord delivers Israel right into their hands.

Verse 27 to 39, the curse of desolation and exile. If this continues and still,

still they will not listen, instead of walking among them in love and grace,

the Lord will not listen. If this continues and they still will not listen,

he will walk against them in fury. He will smash their idols to pieces and even their temples,

and he will devastate the land so the enemies think of it as not worth fighting for. What was

all this fuss about? He will evict them from the land, delivering them into the hands of their

enemies. And then the land of promise will finally get its rest from them. It will be allowed to

recover and breathe after the sin that Israel have polluted.

And any who are left will be utterly ruined. Verse 36, they are so demoralized that even the

sound of a driven leaf will make them run away. Instead of chasing down their enemies,

verse 37, they will be haunted by the ghosts of war, escaping enemies who are entirely imagined.

And this all leads to verse 39, which is a desperate note.

And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemy's lands because of their iniquity,

and also because of the iniquities of their fathers. They shall rot away like them.

The people of God, his special treasured possession, picked out of all the peoples of the

air, left to rot in some Gentile country, away from the Lord's presence.

Away from his garden, just like Adam and Eve, banished from Eden under the curse for their sin.

All the blessings of the Lord's presence have been taken away, and we are meant to feel the

pain of these curses. It makes for uncomfortable reading that makes you bristle, doesn't it?

But we need to feel this pain. And so what are the key lessons from this section?

First one is that we need to feel the pain of the Lord's presence. And we need to feel the pain of the

The Lord is unashamed to take ownership of this

and state that he is responsible for Israel's discipline

and will not be mocked.

If his people continue in sin,

he will act against them in discipline

as he is not the God of presumptuous grace

who will let his children run riot around him,

but who will lovingly discipline them

in the hope that they repent.

Secondly, the Lord disciplines with measured purpose

because this is discipline, it's not punishment.

The Lord is not flying off the handle of his people

and he certainly doesn't enjoy this.

That's why this punishment escalates

in the way he outlines in the text

because it's only after years and years and years and years

of the Lord pleading with Israel and them ignoring him

that he will send these curses.

And Israel's history is littered with examples of that,

of the Lord sending messengers to plead with the people

so that they would return.

That's what the prophets were,

covenant enforcers

who were sent to plead with the people

so that they might repent

and avoid the disaster that was heading their way.

So that the next step of discipline would not come

and that they would not be exiled out of the land

away from God's presence on earth.

And more importantly,

so that they would not be out of God's presence forever,

exiled in the eternal lake of fire.

The Lord was disciplining them

so that they would not end up separated from him forever.

The stakes are high.

So the discipline is designed to help them realize that.

And thirdly, the Lord disciplines out of love.

Discipline of the Father,

shows love for the Son.

He fights for his people

even as he fights against them.

These acts of discipline are a mercy

as they are tasters of what is to come.

As the people continue to be hard-hearted,

obstinate, stiff-necked people

refusing to turn to the Lord.

But the Lord will not give them up without a fight.

He loves his people enough to be honest with them,

to plead with them,

to make the first move,

so that they would repent.

And when do the people we live among

most feel the pull towards the Lord?

Well, often, isn't it,

that they know they need him

because they have gone through loss or pain.

There are many people in the kingdom,

probably many of us in this room,

whose Christian story starts with

loss, grief, or pain.

Perhaps you might be able to think of what it was

that drew you to the Lord in the first place

and know that it was a place of difficulty,

of a source of comfort or security taken away.

And you were crying out for help.

You finally realized your state.

It may even have been a mess of your own making

that drove you to your knees.

And yet, it was there

that the Lord spoke to you.

It was there in the mess of sin and loss,

that he softened your heart,

that you responded in humility and repentance

and sought his blessing.

There is a kindness to the pain

that may come to us from the hand of the Lord.

C.S. Lewis spoke of how our Western world

has become deaf to God,

that as we chase more and more pleasure

in a time of prosperity and abundance,

we have ignored God.

He writes,

but pain insists on being,

being attended to.

God whispers to us in our pleasures.

He speaks to us in our conscience,

but he shouts to us in our pain.

It is his megaphone to rouse the deaf world.

While what we call our own life remains agreeable,

we will not surrender it to him.

What then can God do in our interest

but make our own life less agreeable to us

and take away the plausible circumstances

of false happiness?

It is just here

where God's providence seems at first to be most cruel,

that he most deserves praise.

Sometimes the kindest thing that the Lord can do

is give us a little pain now

to avoid eternal pain

that comes from separation from him.

And friends, if we begin to sin

and fail to worship the Lord,

worshiping the idols of this world

and inviting them to sin,

and inviting them into the church,

the Lord may in his kindness

take away our blessings

so that we might be humbled

and see our need to repent.

The church in Scotland

could dwindle away into nothingness

if she welcomes in and worships the idols of the day.

God can take away his blessings

and we would do well not to point fingers at others

and their perceived unfaithfulness,

but to look at our own hearts

and examine them

and confess the sin that lies in their own lives.

Perhaps we are uncomfortable with the idea

that the world is not neutral,

that the Lord acts in history

and in the present day

to bless or to curse.

Or we find it quite easy to read of this

in the Old Testament,

but the idea that it may happen now

to Christ's church,

well, that doesn't sit well with us.

We don't like the sound of that.

But here it is clear

that God is responsible

both for blessings and curses,

for these acts of nature,

of politics and of war.

The Lord is actively at work in our world

and his blessings and curses

are being played out

in a multitude of ways.

Consider the church in Corinth

who Christ himself sent sickness and death to

because they despised the Lord's Supper,

pleading with them to repent.

And when it comes to pain,

isn't that true for the church in Ukraine right now?

The church who are facing war and famine

in terribly difficult circumstances.

And yet, according to the Slavic Gospel Association,

the church in Ukraine is growing.

They're in the business of planting more churches

as the Lord shouts to that country

in their pain.

But that's not to say

that every disaster is to be attributed to some sin.

The Lord doesn't want us playing

some cruel guessing game.

That's exactly what Jesus explained

when asked about a local disaster

in Luke chapter 13

when the Tower of Siloam collapsed

killing 18 people.

Jesus said it's not for us

to apportion blame

because they weren't worse sinners

than anyone else,

even than those in Jerusalem

and God's covenant people.

But he wanted his heroes

to look at this event

so that they also would not perish.

So that they also would not perish.

Every act of God,

whatever means it is worked through,

is a kind and stark reminder

that we are sinners

who will one day die

and must choose life.

We must choose blessing

that only comes from knowing the Lord.

The Lord uses these curses

because he loves his people.

He's not punishing them

but is urging them

towards repentance.

He is shouting to them

in their pain

making it clear

that they need to listen

to his words of warning

and walk in his ways.

But how could a people

after all this sin,

after generations

of continued deliberate sin,

how could they ever find hope?

Well that's what we'll see

in our final section

in verses 40 to 46.

The final word of hope.

And here we see

that the Lord says

shows grace to the humble

to those who genuinely

confess their sin

are broken hearted

and repent towards him.

And the great shock of this section

is that it exists at all

because this comes

after generations of Israelites

have spurned the Lord

and turned away from him.

After they've denied

and ignored him for decades,

centuries even.

Surely the Lord would be done with them.

Surely he'd be tired of them

after all this time

and move on.

Pick a different nation.

Bless someone else.

They're clearly not grateful for it.

And yet

he is patient,

long-suffering

and steadfast in his love.

Just like the parable

of the prodigal son

which in many ways mirrors

the curses we see here

as he ended up amongst the Gentiles

jealous even of pigs

for what they had.

But when he repented

while our father delights

when one of his lost children

returns to him

humbly asking forgiveness

he gets the fattened calf out

and prepares it for everyone.

Because just as in Eden

the curse is not the final word.

Just as hidden amongst the curses

for sin given to Adam and Eve

the serpent crusher was promised

and so grace is promised to Israel

and so grace is promised to us.

Amen.

No matter how disloyal

and disobedient Israel would be

the Lord would never go back

on his covenant promises

and he grants his people hope.

These Israelites who had been exiled

well they'd even gone so far

as to make themselves like the Gentiles.

Verse 41

with their uncircumcised hearts

they were just like the nations around them

reveling in their sin

and under the curse.

So what is the answer to their curse?

Where is the hope?

Verse 40

Confess

Repent

And verse 42

Trust

that the Lord remembers

his covenant.

If they confess their sins

they may cry out to the Lord for grace

appealing to him to remember his promise

to let grace always have the final word.

They could have assurance

the Lord would hear them.

Because of his covenant promises

he would remember his covenant

with Jacob, with Isaac, with Abraham

and the land.

And when the Lord remembers his covenant

he always acts in grace.

Not cheap grace.

Verse 41

Amends must be made first.

And verse 43

The land will be given the Sabbath rest

that the Lord promised it.

And we stand on this side of the cross

where his covenant in Christ

stands firm too.

Grace wasn't cheap for him either.

The price had to be paid.

The blood shed by him

stands as an eternal reminder

an everlasting plea

for grace

from our Father in heaven.

That is the plea we need to give

and the Lord in his grace

will hear it

even though we don't deserve it.

For verse 44

For all that

when they are in the house of God

in the land of their enemies

I will not spurn them.

Neither will I abhor them

so as to destroy them utterly

and break my covenant with them.

For I

am the Lord their God.

The Lord will not forget his people.

Not because they're worthy.

Not because of anything good

that Israel had done.

But the certainty of his promise

rests entirely on himself

and his covenant.

For he is the Lord our God.

He is the covenant God

who is true to his word of grace

always pleading for repentance

that they might return to him

and know blessing

and life in his name.

That's why God's grace

always gets the last word

and why even his discipline

even his curses

are full of grace.

Israel experienced that

throughout their history

with prophets preaching judgment to rebellious

Israel yet always

offering grace to the humble.

Think of the prophet Amos

who after eight whole chapters

of covenant curses and judgment

declares that

I will restore

the fortunes of my people Israel.

I will plant them on their land

and they shall never again be uprooted.

Or the prophet Micah

who after giving three cycles

of judgment to the people

declares that

the Lord does not retain

his anger forever

because he delights

in steadfast love.

He will again have compassion on us.

He will cast all our sins

into the depths of the sea.

He will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham.

Or take the last book

of the Old Testament Malachi.

The day is coming

burning like an oven

when all the arrogant

and all evildoers will be stubble.

But for you who fear my name

the sovereign God

the son of righteousness

shall rise with healing

in its wings.

The message of the Lord

throughout the prophets

throughout his covenant enforcers

his covenant preachers

was constant.

There is a judgment coming.

So choose life.

Confess your sins.

Believe and trust God

to remember his covenant

for his grace gets the last word.

He will forgive

the sin of the humble.

He will forgive

the sin of the broken hearted.

He will forgive the sin

of the repentant.

And it is the same message today

from the God of the covenant.

After all the curses

promised in Revelation

the Lord promises blessing

to all who trust in him.

And the new creation

when we are with him forever

not with even a whisper

or an echo of the curse remaining

but only the blessings

won for us by Christ

only the goodness of God

radiating out

unfiltered

as we enjoy him forever.

For he is the God of the covenant

who loves to bless his people.

And for us today

if we want to enjoy those blessings

it all starts with

listening.

Listening to the voice of our Father

as he offers us blessings or curses

week after week

in word and in sacrament.

That's what Israel failed to do

time and time again.

And it's at the beginning

of all these curses

if still you do not listen.

So friends let us choose blessing

and choose life

by listening to the voice of our Father

and walking faithfully with him.

Listen to the voice of your Father

as he speaks to you.

Listen to the voice of your Father

as he calls you back from your sin.

Listen to the voice of your Father

as he wants to bless you.

It's God's grace to us

that he has given us his word.

And in it we find these warnings of curses

that will fall upon us

if we are disobedient

both now and forever.

That that word is not given to condemn us

but to warn us and save us.

Because the curse does not get the last word.

The church of Christ

is to listen to his word

as Christ stands before you

and offers his blessing

both now and forever.

And that listening

is to be followed by keeping that word.

Because listening to the Lord

leads to walking in his ways

as those who trust and obey him.

That's what our Heavenly Father longs for.

His people with him

walking with their heads held high

knowing they have been cleansed

by the blood of Christ.

Because that's what we are saved for with him.

To enjoy him and his blessings

both now and forever.

And we do so

by listening to his word of grace

and walking faithfully in it.

Let's pray.

Father God,

we praise you for who you are.

That you are the God of the covenant

who remembers his promises

and acts upon them.

And we thank you

that those promises are true today.

That anyone,

that any sinner in this room

with a humble heart

who seeks your grace

may know that life

is in your name.

Please help us to live

in response to the grace

you have shown us

by walking in your ways,

by trusting

that your ways

is the way of blessing.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.