The Humility of True Revival: Confession and Covenant

• Corporate Confession 00:11:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that the Israelites confessed the sins of the entire nation, not just individual sins, and challenges the congregation to do the same.
• Humility and Repentance 00:12:25 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites 2 Chronicles 7:14 to argue that God will not hear prayers unless His people humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from wicked ways.
• National and Corporate Sin 00:11:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that God deals with nations and the church collectively, challenging the congregation to confess the sins of their nation and church.
• Revival 00:12:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor questions whether the church has experienced true revival, linking it directly to the act of corporate confession and humility.
• The Role of the Old Testament Law 00:14:38 ▶️ 📄
  > He explains that the Old Testament serves as a 'schoolmaster' to bring people to Christ by revealing their sinfulness and need for salvation, rather than providing salvation directly.
• The Nature of True Revival 00:16:11 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines revival as a state where people are humbled by the Word of God, leading them to seek Him persistently, contrasting this with modern apathy.
• Self-Exaltation vs. God's Holiness 00:18:11 ▶️ 📄
  > He contrasts the world's command to 'look out for number one' with the biblical call to love God first, arguing that self-exaltation leads to abasement while humility leads to being lifted up.
• God's Sovereignty and Sustenance 00:22:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of atomic theory to argue that just as atoms sustain physical reality, God actively upholds all creation, making worship the most important activity.
• Salvation as Deliverance 00:24:52 ▶️ 📄
  > He draws a parallel between Israel's deliverance from Egypt and individual salvation, noting that God chooses and saves us while we are in affliction, not because of our merit.
• Divine Sovereignty in Salvation 00:24:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that God initiates salvation by choosing and having mercy on believers, rather than humans choosing God.
• Typology of the Exodus 00:25:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor connects the Red Sea crossing, pillar of cloud/fire, and giving of the Law at Sinai to the spiritual journey of the believer, including the writing of God's law on the heart.
• Human Rebellion and Hardness of Heart 00:26:43 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor highlights how the Israelites, despite witnessing miracles, hardened their necks and refused to obey, illustrating the danger of unbelief.
• Corporate Confession and Covenant 00:28:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that the nation confessed the sins of their fathers because they were reaping the curse of disobedience, leading to a renewed covenant commitment.
• The New Covenant in Christ 00:31:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor identifies Jesus as the seed of Abraham and the fulfillment of the covenant, instituted at the Last Supper through His blood.
• Christ as the True Passover Lamb 00:33:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ, who is the true Passover lamb sacrificed for the world.
• Rejection of Prophets and Truth 00:36:21 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes how Israel rejected and killed prophets because they preferred comforting lies over the hard truth of God's Word.
• The New Covenant 00:38:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that the New Covenant is written and sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, contrasting it with the Old Covenant and human attempts to make covenants.
• Covenant of Works vs. Covenant of Grace 00:40:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor distinguishes between the broken Covenant of Works (Adam) and the Covenant of Grace found in Christ, noting that Israel tried to keep the law in their own strength.
• Sufficiency of Christ 00:40:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that believers trust in the full sufficiency of Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the law and accomplished salvation, leaving nothing for humans to add.
• Baptism as Covenant Sealing 00:52:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes baptism as the sealing of the covenant, not by human hands but by Christ's blood, marking the believer's entry into the church.

• Sermon Illustration 00:01:29 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the historical context of Nehemiah 9, where the Israelites, after rebuilding the wall and celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, assembled with fasting and sackcloths to confess their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
• Sermon Illustration 00:12:50 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses a rhetorical device to challenge the congregation's reluctance to confess sin, asking if they think pastors should do it for them because they are paid to do so, thereby highlighting the personal responsibility of every believer.
• Sermon Illustration 00:15:29 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Ezra reading the law to the people for a quarter of the day, followed by confession and worship, contrasting their intense devotion with modern churchgoers' lack of interest in returning for more preaching.
• Sermon Illustration 00:18:44 ▶️ 📄
  > He uses the example of Isaiah, the 'holiest man,' who felt his own sinfulness and uncleanness only after seeing the Lord, illustrating that true knowledge of God reveals one's own wickedness.
• Sermon Illustration 00:22:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor employs an analogy involving atomic theory, arguing that since no one has ever seen an atom yet people believe in its existence and the chair they sit on, believers should trust in God's sustaining power even though He is unseen.
• Sermon Illustration 00:25:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the historical account of the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt, including the plagues, the Red Sea crossing, and the provision of manna, as a typological picture of individual salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit.
• Sermon Illustration 00:32:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the movie 'The Ten Commandments' and actor Yul Brynner to illustrate Pharaoh's stubbornness and God's hardening of his heart during the plagues.
• Sermon Illustration 00:36:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses an analogy of medicine and surgery with anesthetics to explain that while God's truth (the 'bad stuff') may be painful or unpleasant, it is necessary for spiritual survival and salvation.
• Sermon Illustration 00:42:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the story of Aubrey Gibson, who experienced trials in college (atheists, roommates) but was drawn back to the gospel through her parents and church attendance, leading to her baptism.
• Sermon Illustration 00:44:39 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the historical account of the people of Israel reading the law, wearing sackcloth and ashes, and crying out to God for mercy after hearing of their wickedness.

• Pastoral Charge 00:21:52 ▶️ 📄
  > Leave the church service if attending is not a priority compared to other activities.
• Pastoral Charge 00:31:12 ▶️ 📄
  > Read the Gospel of Luke
• Pastoral Charge 00:46:11 ▶️ 📄
  > Come forward and kneel in prayer/repentance before leaving the service.
• Pastoral Charge 00:48:22 ▶️ 📄
  > Bow the knee, trust in Christ, and humble oneself completely for salvation.
• Pastoral Charge 00:50:13 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor models asking for the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence.

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:03] It is a special day here as we're going to be looking forward to the baptism after the service, after the message, I should say.
[00:00:15] We usually do the baptism before. As I was preparing this message, I felt that we would do it afterwards.
[00:00:23] Because as I read this chapter and prepared the sermon, I thought that this really is best going to be illustrated in the baptism of Aubrey Gibson and in her faith in Christ.
[00:00:36] And so, Aubrey, there's a lot of pressure to put on you as I preach.
[00:00:40] But really, I think it will be fitting, as you'll see, I pray, after the sermon for the baptism.
[00:00:48] I'm looking forward to that.
[00:00:50] Nehemiah chapter 9.
[00:00:52] Remember, there is a revival going on in Israel in the days of Nehemiah.
[00:00:56] They have just finished building the wall amid many threats and dangers.
[00:01:04] They have begun to hear the word of God preached.
[00:01:09] They just celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles where they were listening to sermons, long sermons, six-hour sermons.
[00:01:17] Don't worry, we won't be quite that long today.
[00:01:20] And every day for eight days.
[00:01:24] And they take a day break.
[00:01:26] And then the next day, this is what happens.
[00:01:29] Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 1.
[00:01:33] Now on the twenty and fourth day of this month, the children of Israel were assembled with fasting and with sackcloths and earth upon them.
[00:01:42] And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
[00:01:49] And they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day.
[00:01:55] And another fourth part they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God.
[00:02:00] Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites Jeshua and Bani, Kadmiel, Shabaniah, Buni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Shaniah, and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God.
[00:02:15] Then the Levites Jeshua and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabaniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shabaniah, and Pethahiah said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever, and blessed it be thy glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise thou even thou art lord
[00:02:36] alone thou hast made heaven the heaven of heavens with all their host the earth and things that are therein the seas and all that is therein and thou preservest them all and the host of heaven
[00:02:50] worshipeth thee thou art the lord the god who didst choose abram and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham, and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites,
[00:03:08] the Amorites, the Perizzites, and Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words, for thou art righteous, and didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea.
[00:03:25] Let me stop for a moment.
[00:03:27] This prayer is recounting the history of the nation and giving God praise and thanks and asking forgiveness for how the nation sinned and went into captivity because of it and now has returned.
[00:03:42] That's what this beautiful prayer is.
[00:03:44] So let's listen here in verse 10.
[00:03:46] After, during the Exodus, And you showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh and on all his servants and on all the people of his land.
[00:03:55] for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them so didst thou get thee a name as it is this day and thou didst divide the sea before them so that they went through the midst of the sea
[00:04:08] on the dry land and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps as a stone into the mighty waters moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar in the night by a pillar of fire
[00:04:18] to give them light in the way wherein they should go thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai And spakeest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath.
[00:04:36] And commandest them precepts, statutes, and laws by the hand of Moses thy servant.
[00:04:42] And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst.
[00:04:49] and promised them that they should go in to possess the land which thou had sworn to give them.
[00:04:55] But they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their necks and hearkened not to thy commandments and refused to obey.
[00:05:03] Neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their necks and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage.
[00:05:13] But thou art a God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
[00:05:22] Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations, yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness.
[00:05:35] The pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way, neither the pillar of fire by night to show them light and the way wherein they should go.
[00:05:46] Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth and gavest them water for their thirst.
[00:05:55] Yet forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness so that they lacked nothing.
[00:06:01] Their clothes waxed not old and their feet swelled not.
[00:06:05] Moreover, thou gavest them kingdoms and nations and didst divide them in two corners so they possessed the land of Sihon and the land of the king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan
[00:06:18] their children also multipliest thou as the stars of heaven and broughtest them into the land concerning which thou hast promised their fathers that they should go in to possess it so the children went in and possessed the land
[00:06:32] and thou subduest before them the inhabitants of the land the Canaanites and gavest them into their hands with their kings and the people of the land that thou might do with them as they would.
[00:06:44] And they took strong cities and a fat land and possessed houses full of goods, wells, digs, vineyards, and olive yards, and fruit trees in abundance.
[00:06:54] So they did eat and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.
[00:07:03] Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy law behind their backs and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee and they wrought great provocations.
[00:07:18] Therefore thou deliverest them into the hand of their enemies who vexed them and in the time of their trouble when they cried unto thee thou heardest them from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies
[00:07:28] thou gavest them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
[00:07:33] But after they had rest they did evil again before thee therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies so that they had the dominion over them yet when they returned and cried unto thee thou heardest them
[00:07:48] from heaven and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies and testifyest against them that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law yet they dealt proudly and hearken not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, which is, if a man do, he shall
[00:08:07] live in them, and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened the neck, and would not hear.
[00:08:12] Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiest against them by thy spirit and thy prophets, yet would they not give ear.
[00:08:20] Therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
[00:08:23] Nevertheless, for thy great mercy's sake, thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepeth covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before
[00:08:42] thee that hath come upon us. Own our kings, own our prophets, own our fathers, and own all thy people since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
[00:08:56] Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly.
[00:09:09] Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.
[00:09:19] For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
[00:09:33] Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou givest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof, and the good thereof, behold, we are servants, or slaves, if you will, in it.
[00:09:46] And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins.
[00:09:56] Also they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure.
[00:10:03] And we are in great distress.
[00:10:05] And because all of this, we make a sure covenant and write it.
[00:10:12] and our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it.
[00:10:19] Let's pray.
[00:10:20] Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your holy word.
[00:10:22] Thank you, Lord, for what you have done in your people time and time again.
[00:10:27] And here, as they confess before you, Lord, your reviving work, may it come and visit us for your glory and your great namesake and for you alone.
[00:10:37] In Christ, we thank you and praise you.
[00:10:39] Amen.
[00:10:42] What a prayer.
[00:10:44] What a prayer that is made essentially by the nation, not just by an individual.
[00:10:52] It may be that several of the Levites were praying this as the assembly was gathered.
[00:10:57] And they were confessing sins.
[00:11:00] But what sins were they confessing?
[00:11:02] Specifically, they were confessing the sins of the nation.
[00:11:06] The people of God have sinned against God.
[00:11:10] And so they give this wonderful history of God's work among his people.
[00:11:15] and how they have sinned.
[00:11:17] But now, these people who are praying, some of them have not sinned after that way.
[00:11:23] Nevertheless, they are confessing the sins of a nation.
[00:11:27] Sometimes we might say, you know, I don't really have any sins to confess.
[00:11:31] Well, first of all, you're a liar, because the Bible says you are.
[00:11:34] It says, if someone says they have no sin, they are a first John.
[00:11:40] But second of all, God does not just deal with individuals.
[00:11:45] He deals with nations.
[00:11:48] Does our nation have any sins to confess?
[00:11:52] And not just that, but he deals with his own people.
[00:11:57] In this case, the church.
[00:11:59] Does the church have any sins to confess?
[00:12:04] Have we had big, huge times of confession here about the sins of the church in general?
[00:12:10] Never one time, have we?
[00:12:12] Well, aren't we talking about revival?
[00:12:16] Pastor Andy was just thanking God for some people who've come to Christ this week, but we still haven't seen the revival that we're looking for.
[00:12:23] Well, maybe we just need to look at what's right in front of us.
[00:12:25] 2 Chronicles 7.14.
[00:12:27] On my right, on my left.
[00:12:28] Read it.
[00:12:29] If my people, which are called by my name, shall do what?
[00:12:33] Well, why haven't we come and confessed the sins of our nation?
[00:12:39] Or confessed the sins of our church?
[00:12:41] or confess the sins of the church because we're not humble?
[00:12:45] Who wants to do that?
[00:12:46] Let them confess.
[00:12:48] I'm good.
[00:12:48] I haven't done that stuff.
[00:12:50] Pastor Joseph, doesn't he get paid to do that anyways?
[00:12:53] Or Pastor Andy, don't we pay them enough to do that?
[00:12:56] I don't have to do that.
[00:13:01] You'll never get past the first step.
[00:13:03] If my people, which are called by my name, the church will humble themselves and then pray and then seek my face and then turn from their wicked ways.
[00:13:13] Then will I hear from heaven.
[00:13:15] Forgive their sin and heal them.
[00:13:17] Pastor Joseph, do you believe the Lord hears my prayers?
[00:13:20] He says right here, he's not going to hear them if we hadn't become humble.
[00:13:25] Isn't that what it says?
[00:13:27] I'm not going to hear your prayer unless first you're humble and you pray and you seek my face and you repent and turn from your wicked ways.
[00:13:37] What more can he say than he's already said?
[00:13:39] If you're in unrepentant sin as an individual and you refuse to repent, You shake the fist at the Lord.
[00:13:45] You know that he just has to take me the way I am.
[00:13:48] Don't expect him to hear your prayers.
[00:13:50] He's told you he won't.
[00:13:52] Say, well, that's Old Testament, Pastor Joseph.
[00:13:54] We're in the New Testament.
[00:13:55] Yeah?
[00:13:56] But how many of you know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever?
[00:14:00] And so what we have here is there is this great revival taking place.
[00:14:05] And what was the impetus for the revival?
[00:14:09] Well, there is a national movement, a rebuilding of the wall.
[00:14:12] Jerusalem is established.
[00:14:14] The temple now can go on, temple services and worship of our triune God, unmolested.
[00:14:20] But then they call upon Ezra, the priest, the scribe, to come and read to them the law.
[00:14:27] So they come and they hear the sermons.
[00:14:29] They hear the word of God.
[00:14:30] And what is the word of God, too?
[00:14:31] By the way, that was just Old Testament.
[00:14:33] There was no New Testament.
[00:14:34] Now, there is hope in the Old Testament.
[00:14:36] There is salvation in the Old Testament.
[00:14:38] But there's a lot more condemnation, right?
[00:14:41] And that's because, as Paul tells us in the New Testament, the Old Testament did not come for salvation.
[00:14:48] The Old Testament came to bring people to salvation, which is Jesus Christ.
[00:14:54] The Old Testament was our schoolmaster.
[00:14:56] And so if you just sit there and listen to the law all the time, what's going to happen?
[00:15:00] You're either going to say, I don't want to listen to this anymore.
[00:15:03] Or if you do listen, you're going to start to be humble.
[00:15:05] you're going to see how far we fall short of the perfect righteousness and holiness of christ of god and so as they're hearing the law they are being humbled they are being humbled they don't
[00:15:18] look at their watch and say oh well this sermon is too long no it's six hours and they're listening and then guess what they said that's enough can we go on vacation now no the next day they come
[00:15:29] back and ask for it to be preached to them again we talked about the preacher's dream that's the preacher's dream, right? Or the evangelist's dream. Come and preach to us. Did we just preach yesterday? Yeah, but we want to hear some more. I've never seen any of y'all do that on Monday
[00:15:43] morning. If y'all come back Monday morning and call us and I'll be here. Pastor Andy will be here eventually. And he, Pastor Andy comes in on Monday. He and I'll be here. And if you come
[00:15:56] Monday, we'll find something to preach to. But that never happened before. Not one time. Well, That's because here's revival, and here we're still praying.
[00:16:08] We're still waiting.
[00:16:09] And what's the first step in revival?
[00:16:11] If my people shall call by my name, shall...
[00:16:17] These people are humbled.
[00:16:20] They're about through the floor.
[00:16:22] They show up after eight days of hearing the word of God.
[00:16:26] They never heard it before.
[00:16:28] They say, well, I thought they were Jews.
[00:16:30] Do you think they had a King James Version?
[00:16:32] Of course, that was the only version they had back then.
[00:16:34] No, they did not have.
[00:16:37] They did not have King James or NIV or anything else.
[00:16:40] All there was was the Old Testament and Hebrew, and everybody didn't have a role.
[00:16:45] There might have been one or two hanging around for the priest in the temple.
[00:16:49] These people have never heard it.
[00:16:51] And all of a sudden they find that the law says, if you do this sin and this sin and this sin and this sin, these sins, here's the destruction that's going to happen to you.
[00:17:00] There's going to be sicknesses.
[00:17:01] There's going to be plagues.
[00:17:02] Your nation is going to be taken captive.
[00:17:04] You're going to be in a far land.
[00:17:05] And guess what?
[00:17:06] They have lived it.
[00:17:08] This generation just came back from captivity.
[00:17:11] And now for the first time in their life, they understand my whole life is now explained by the Word of God.
[00:17:19] All of these things I was struggling, I couldn't understand, now I can understand it.
[00:17:23] That's the way it should be for somebody who gets born again.
[00:17:26] And so they are humbled because they say, we are in this state of subjection, great distress.
[00:17:33] we are servants of a Persian pagan king. We have no government of our own. We have to submit to them and pay tribute. And we recognize that this has all happened, and we read it just
[00:17:47] a moment ago. Why? Because of our sins. Because of our sins. And this is this great realization that brings people to humility that is the beginning of salvation.
[00:18:06] In this case, revival.
[00:18:07] In the case of an individual, salvation.
[00:18:11] Until we are humble, until we recognize how sinful and wicked we are in God's sight, because you say, well, I'm not that bad, Pastor Joseph.
[00:18:18] Yeah, but God's that good.
[00:18:20] You see, that's your problem.
[00:18:21] If you think you're not that, I'm not really wicked, you know, I'm not like Hitler or whatever.
[00:18:26] If you don't think you're wicked, you don't know God.
[00:18:29] Because when you know God Do you see how holy, and righteous, and perfect, and true, and beautiful, and clean, and powerful, and majestic, and all-consuming fire?
[00:18:40] Just like Isaiah, the holiest man.
[00:18:44] The holiest man, we would think, or one of the holiest prophets in his day.
[00:18:48] And when he sees the Lord, woe unto me, a man of unclean lips amidst a people of unclean lips, he immediately feels his sinfulness.
[00:18:57] Well, isn't he the holiest man in Israel?
[00:18:59] Yes, but once he sees God, he finds out how unholy he really is.
[00:19:06] And until we come to that realization, we can't be saved.
[00:19:10] That's not just, 2 Chronicles 14, a formula for revival for a nation.
[00:19:16] It's really a formula for salvation, isn't it?
[00:19:19] Don't we have to, if we're going to get born again, don't we have to humble ourselves and recognize that we're sinful and need a Savior?
[00:19:26] Don't we have to pray, ask the Lord to save us, and seek his face to do it?
[00:19:33] And don't we have to repent of our sin?
[00:19:36] Isn't that what that says?
[00:19:39] Revival and salvation go together.
[00:19:43] I think one of the reasons that most of the church is not revived is that most of the church, or what calls itself the church, needs to get saved.
[00:19:51] And we can't be saved until we're first humbled.
[00:19:56] Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord and he will do what?
[00:20:00] He'll lift you up.
[00:20:01] But when we lift up ourselves, I'm not wicked.
[00:20:05] What's this preacher talking about?
[00:20:07] I'm better than most people in my neighborhood.
[00:20:10] When you exalt yourself, what will God do?
[00:20:13] He will abase you.
[00:20:17] Well, what does the world tell you?
[00:20:18] Look out for number one.
[00:20:20] Who's number one in the world's eyes?
[00:20:22] You're number one.
[00:20:23] Look out for yourself.
[00:20:24] No, this is completely wrong.
[00:20:26] Who's number one in Christ's eyes?
[00:20:28] Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
[00:20:31] This is the first and great commandment.
[00:20:33] And then who's number two? Love your neighbor as yourself. Then we are a distant number three, aren't we? And there's no one behind us. We need to understand that. So they confess, and these people are serious. I mean, these people are serious Christians. They go in for
[00:20:51] a fourth of the day. What's a fourth of the day? Six hours? If it's of the day, literal, it's six hours. If it's of the light of the day, then it would be three hours, right? So they hear
[00:21:06] the law for a quarter of the day, and then if that's not enough, then they confess and worship the Lord for a quarter of the day. When's the last time you've done that? When's the last time I've
[00:21:19] done it? When's the last time any of us have done it? Well, things were different back then, Pastor Different how?
[00:21:27] Is it the same God?
[00:21:29] Is it the same Bible?
[00:21:31] What's the problem?
[00:21:32] Well, they didn't have much to do back then.
[00:21:36] Well, you got a lot to do more important?
[00:21:38] You better go do it.
[00:21:39] What are you doing here?
[00:21:41] Go do it.
[00:21:42] If this isn't important, go do it.
[00:21:45] Don't get nervous, Pastor Andy.
[00:21:47] It's all right.
[00:21:50] Right?
[00:21:50] I'm serious.
[00:21:52] If you got more important things to do than be in church on Sunday, then please go do it.
[00:21:56] Because there is nothing more important than worshiping the one who did what?
[00:22:01] And this whole story, this whole prayer is a recounting of that.
[00:22:05] We're not going to go through the whole thing again, it's long.
[00:22:07] But how do they start out?
[00:22:09] They start out by praising the God, the glorious God, verse 5, who did what?
[00:22:14] Verse 6, thou, even thou art Lord alone.
[00:22:18] Thou hast made the heaven and the heaven of heavens and their host and the earth and all things that are therein and the seas.
[00:22:25] God created everything. Everything you see ultimately is from his creation, and he is not just the creator, but by the scripture, but also by logic, he who created all things must actively uphold them and keep them together. You've heard of atomic theory, and this is how everything
[00:22:44] consists, but it's just a theory. They don't know. That's why it's called theory. They think that No one's ever seen an atom. Not one. Go study it. No human has never ever seen an atom.
[00:22:57] In school they teach you everything you see is made of atoms. Don't believe in God. You can't see him. Has anyone ever seen an atom? Go study it. If you see a picture of an atom, it's not a
[00:23:10] picture of an atom. It is a computer generated image based on what they say are the electrical effects of an Adam. No one has ever seen an Adam, and yet people who don't believe in God,
[00:23:22] and some people do, of course. I'm not saying there's no Adams. I'm not telling you there's not.
[00:23:26] Maybe there is. Maybe there isn't. No one's ever seen it. If people say, well, I can't believe in God. I can't see him. Then why do you believe in the chair, or the floor, or the air, or me,
[00:23:34] or anything you can see? Because Adams, no one's ever seen. But God has created everything. There's the answer that we need. And so we need to understand there is nothing more important.
[00:23:44] because your very existence if God were for just a moment to take away his preserving hand we talk about your very next breath that fills your lungs to give you life is in God's hand
[00:23:57] but not just that if he were to remove his sustaining hand for just a moment you would simply cease to exist just completely go out of existence just like that gone, why?
[00:24:15] Because everything that's in us, about us, and everything around us has been created and is upheld by him.
[00:24:22] And they're acknowledging that.
[00:24:24] Now, if you really believe that, that'll begin to humble you.
[00:24:28] But if not, well, you know, I don't need, you know.
[00:24:31] God created a long time ago.
[00:24:33] I'm good.
[00:24:34] Thank you, pastor.
[00:24:34] I got enough religion.
[00:24:37] And so they go through and they talk about how God chose Abram and chose a people and how God brought the people out of Egypt that were in affliction, and how he showed many wonderful works. And isn't that the way we're
[00:24:52] saved? Those of you who've been saved, God sees us in a place of affliction. He sees us in a place of trouble. He has mercy upon us, and he's the one that goes down and chooses us. We don't choose him
[00:25:06] without him first choosing us. And he chooses us, and he has compassion, and he has mercy upon us.
[00:25:14] And you see in chapter 9, verse 10, and you showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh and upon his servants.
[00:25:23] And then you parted the Red Sea.
[00:25:27] Verse 11, verse 12, you led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, the cloud to give them shade from the sun, the fire to give them warmth and light in the midst of the desert
[00:25:39] where there was no other lights.
[00:25:42] You come down upon Sinai and you gave them your law and your judgment.
[00:25:47] Isn't this a picture also of individual salvation?
[00:25:50] Right?
[00:25:50] He comes.
[00:25:51] He saves us.
[00:25:52] He does mighty works of deliverance.
[00:25:54] He pulls us out.
[00:25:56] He leads us by His Spirit in the way that we should go.
[00:26:00] He never forsakes us.
[00:26:02] He's leading us.
[00:26:02] He's directing us.
[00:26:04] And then He puts His law, just as He came down on Mount Sinai.
[00:26:08] By the way, the day that He came down on Mount Sinai and gave the law is the very same day of the Hebrew calendar that he came down in Pentecost as Holy Spirit and filled the disciples. And that's a picture of him writing his law upon
[00:26:21] our hearts when we're born again. And that's what this picture is, a picture of revival of a nation, but it's also a picture of what should take place in each and every one of us if we're truly saved
[00:26:33] and born again. Notice, what was the response of these Jews who had all of these blessings above anyone on the face of the earth.
[00:26:43] Well, verse 16, but they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their necks and hearkened not unto thy commandments.
[00:26:55] Verse 17, they refused to obey.
[00:26:57] Listen to this.
[00:26:58] People say, have you ever heard people say, now if I was there and I saw the partner of the Red Sea and I saw all those miracles and I saw the manna from heaven and I saw this
[00:27:08] and you better believe I'd be a believer.
[00:27:10] What about the people who actually saw it?
[00:27:14] It says, Isn't that Satan always trying to take us back to the bondage of the world and the self before we were born again?
[00:27:36] Well, we need to remember and be mindful of the wonders that God has done in our life to pull us out of that and to bring us into the place of salvation that we are now.
[00:27:46] I'm speaking to those of you who've been born again.
[00:27:49] If you don't understand what I'm saying, maybe you need to be born again.
[00:27:53] And that's what we're seeing here.
[00:27:56] And they are confessing freely what hundreds of years before, even a thousand years before, their fathers did.
[00:28:07] You say, well, they didn't do it.
[00:28:08] Why are they confessing it?
[00:28:09] because they are still reaping the curse of refusing to obey God.
[00:28:14] And as we've mentioned before, let's say we've got a great church here, but there's just one Achan, there's just one person here, who's in unrepentant sin and shakes the fist at God.
[00:28:24] And we don't know about it, but they continue to mock God, and they're part of our assembly.
[00:28:28] Can that hold back the entire church?
[00:28:33] And so these people are confessing as a nation.
[00:28:36] They want to be clean, they want to move forward.
[00:28:38] They want to, as we see at the end of this chapter, what is the result of this prayer in verse 38 and because of all of this we make a sure covenant and write it and our princes levites and priests seal into it lord willing i'll be here next sunday
[00:28:55] to preach to you and and you will hear who signed the covenant and what did they covenant in there and if you go and take a a sneak peek at chapter 10 they covenant to do everything they're supposed
[00:29:09] to do in the Old Testament law that they haven't been doing.
[00:29:13] You say, well, why do they need to have a covenant?
[00:29:15] Didn't God already make a covenant with them?
[00:29:17] They're acknowledging that they've broken it.
[00:29:19] They've acknowledged that they've been living for themselves. And now they want to live for Christ. And that's why Aubrey Gibson's getting baptized after the sermon.
[00:29:29] Because I believe what she's doing, even though God has made the covenant in Christ, she wants to live for Christ.
[00:29:40] She wants to be consecrated to his service.
[00:29:45] God's done a work in her life just in the last two or three years.
[00:29:49] Go and ask her to tell you.
[00:29:51] It's a wonderful testimony.
[00:29:53] And we didn't go say, you need to be baptized.
[00:29:57] What's wrong with you?
[00:29:57] Why haven't you been baptized?
[00:29:58] Mark, what's wrong with you?
[00:30:01] No, not at all.
[00:30:02] She desired baptism.
[00:30:06] Why?
[00:30:07] because she feels that pull that draw on her heart she wants to publicly proclaim and show what God has already done in her and this idea of making a covenant with God we can make a covenant with God
[00:30:22] but he is the one who initiates the covenant and that's what the key is here he is the one that made a covenant with Abraham to give the land to who did it say in our text?
[00:30:34] to give the land unto who?
[00:30:36] To Lot? No.
[00:30:39] But Lot's involved, yeah?
[00:30:43] To give the land.
[00:30:44] Do you remember what it said in the Word?
[00:30:47] To give the land, not to the Levites.
[00:30:50] To give the land to Abram and to his...
[00:30:54] Oh!
[00:30:55] Some of you have been listening.
[00:30:56] To his seed.
[00:30:57] And who's the seed of Abraham?
[00:31:00] Jesus Christ.
[00:31:02] You find that in Galatians.
[00:31:03] And all who are in Christ.
[00:31:05] And that's the covenant.
[00:31:07] That's the covenant that's still for today.
[00:31:10] What covenant is that?
[00:31:12] Turn to the Gospel of Luke, if you would.
[00:31:15] Remember Jesus on the night he was betrayed, the night before he was crucified.
[00:31:22] We find that he is at the Last Supper.
[00:31:29] And he says in Luke chapter 22, verse 14, And when the hour was come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him.
[00:31:39] We just had the Lord's Supper.
[00:31:40] We just had communion last week.
[00:31:42] And he said unto them, With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
[00:31:49] So he, a good Jew, is celebrating the Passover.
[00:31:52] The Passover, by the way, we were just talking about that.
[00:31:56] Because when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, there was one signal event that is associated with them being released.
[00:32:04] Remember, God sends nine plagues.
[00:32:07] And Yul Brynner won't let them go.
[00:32:09] Pharaoh, that's Pharaoh, won't let them go.
[00:32:12] it's trying to keep you awake and so pharaoh won't let him go and and every and god hardens his heart but pharaoh hardens his own heart finally the tenth plague he lets him go the death of the
[00:32:24] firstborn of all the land well how did the jews escape it take a lamb without blemish without spot in the house on the 10th day 14th day sacrifice it take the blood of the lamb put it
[00:32:35] over the doorpost and the lintel. And when I see the blood, I will pass over not to destroy.
[00:32:43] And in 1 Corinthians 5, 7, it says, Christ is our Passover lamb sacrificed for us. So here's the Passover lamb slain from the foundation of the world, having the Passover feast for the very last time, the night before he is to be offered as a Passover lamb for the whole world. That is
[00:33:02] all who would truly believe on him and that's why i think he says with desire have i desired to eat this passover with you before i suffer for i say unto you i will not anymore eat thereof
[00:33:13] until it be fulfilled the kingdom of god and he took the cup and gave thanks and said take this and divide it among yourselves for i say unto you i will not drink of the fruit of the vine until
[00:33:24] the kingdom of god shall come the crossroads of history the old testament feast of the passover which is looking back to God's wondrous work in bringing his people out from bondage, physical bondage, to Pharaoh, who was an image of Satan,
[00:33:39] and that bondage is an image of us in bondage to sin.
[00:33:43] And the releasing is the salvation, and it only comes at the point of the Passover.
[00:33:50] Why? Because there is no salvation without the Passover.
[00:33:53] Why? Because Christ is our Passover lamb sacrificed for us, And there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ.
[00:34:02] He dies, the Lamb is slain, so that we might be saved.
[00:34:06] And they are released in this wonderful and beautiful picture of salvation.
[00:34:13] And then they are sustained by what?
[00:34:16] The bread from heaven, which came down, the manna.
[00:34:20] But Jesus says in John 6, I am the true bread from heaven.
[00:34:24] they're sustained from the water out of the rock we already read these Israelites just two days before on the last day of the feast Jesus in John says on the last day of the feast
[00:34:40] if any man thirsts let him come unto me and drink because that rock it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that was smithing and the water came out it says that rock was Christ Pretty man be thirsty, let him come unto me and drink.
[00:34:56] All of this in Nehemiah, they're recounting the history of Israel, which is a foreshadowing and the divine plan of salvation in Jesus Christ that each and every one here must submit to if they want to be saved.
[00:35:12] And so, this beautiful picture, they continue to recount how in the time of the judges, they turned away from God and God let them gave them over to the hands of their enemies but then when they got really afflicted
[00:35:28] and it got really bad they turned back and tried out to the true God and it says they raised them up saviors in the Old Testament what were they called?
[00:35:37] Judges and the judges delivered them and got them back into a right relationship with God at least from the temporal side and things went pretty well and then when it got well and they got fat and sassy,
[00:35:50] he uses fat but not sassy, when they got proud, they hardened their necks once again, they turned away from the true God, they start to worship all kinds of other idols, essentially, ultimately, the self,
[00:36:00] and God delivers them again to the hands of their enemies, and then they cry out again, oh, please, and then he raises up another, they talked about that.
[00:36:10] But after cycles of this, finally, they got to a place in the last part of the kingdom in 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings where God sends them prophet after prophet after prophet after prophet.
[00:36:21] And instead of turning to God, what do they do?
[00:36:24] They kill the prophets.
[00:36:26] They say, we're not going to this church.
[00:36:28] You never tell us anything good.
[00:36:30] We find a church down the road.
[00:36:32] Man, I tell you what, they tell me how wonderful I am.
[00:36:35] They tell me how much God is happy that I'm here.
[00:36:38] They tell me if it wasn't for me, God might be sad and cry.
[00:36:41] And so I feel so lifted up, I'm going to go over there.
[00:36:45] I don't want to hear that bad stuff.
[00:36:48] The bad stuff was the best stuff that you need.
[00:36:53] Sometimes medicine doesn't taste too good.
[00:36:56] But it might be good for you.
[00:36:59] If it wasn't for anesthetics, surgery might hurt quite a bit, wouldn't it?
[00:37:05] But sometimes that's the only way to be saved.
[00:37:09] Otherwise you die.
[00:37:11] We need the truth.
[00:37:12] And so it got to a place where they didn't want to hear it.
[00:37:15] They killed the prophets.
[00:37:16] They rejected them.
[00:37:17] They made fun of them.
[00:37:18] They mocked them.
[00:37:19] Some were sawn asunder, like Isaiah.
[00:37:21] because people did not want to hear the Word of God.
[00:37:26] And so Christ comes in all of this history.
[00:37:31] The culmination is in Christ, the crossroads of history, and the Last Supper.
[00:37:37] He's eating the Passover lamb with his Jewish disciples, and he also is instituting the Lord's Supper that we just enjoyed last week.
[00:37:46] And notice what he says, verse 18, For I say unto you, i'll not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of god shall come and he took bread and gave thanks and he break it gave unto them saying this is my body which is given for you this do
[00:38:01] in remembrance of me likewise after the cup after supper saying this cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you that word testament in other translations or some other translations it says, this is the new covenant. Weren't the Jews making a covenant with God? Weren't they
[00:38:21] recounting the old covenant, if you will? But really, this is the covenant, the new covenant.
[00:38:27] God seeks out a people to make a covenant with, and how does he write it? As they say, and we write it, and we seal it this day, it is written and sealed in the very blood of God, Jesus Christ.
[00:38:41] they say I wonder if this is really accurate or not I wonder if this is worth the paper it's written on this is the blood of God is the very ink so that we might be sure that this covenant of salvation by grace
[00:38:53] through faith in Jesus Christ is to us and that we can believe and that we can trust in him and so we must confess our sins we must confess our utter inability to make any covenant with God
[00:39:06] outside of what he has already done for us in Jesus Christ And what they are doing is looking forward, though they don't realize it, to that new covenant that's going to enable them because they make a wonderful covenant.
[00:39:21] And we'll hear about next week, oh, we're going to observe the Sabbath.
[00:39:24] Oh, we're going to pay the preacher.
[00:39:25] They don't say that, but they say, we're going to, it's a good thing.
[00:39:28] We're going to pay the tithe, right?
[00:39:30] We're going to observe the Sabbath.
[00:39:32] We'll be on church on Sunday and the other days too, you know, all that kind of stuff.
[00:39:36] We're going to do all the right things that the law says we're going to do.
[00:39:39] And we make a covenant.
[00:39:40] We're going to do it.
[00:39:42] But guess what?
[00:39:43] It lasted for a little while.
[00:39:46] And then what happened?
[00:39:48] Everything they said they would do, they completely turned away.
[00:39:53] The sad part is that they're trying to do it.
[00:39:56] And they're trying to do it in their own strength.
[00:39:59] And they've got the right covenant, the word of God.
[00:40:03] There's really only one covenant.
[00:40:04] There's the covenant of works that Adam and Eve broke in the garden.
[00:40:08] And then anyone who's saved after the Garden of Eden is saved by the covenant of grace.
[00:40:12] which is ultimately found in Christ.
[00:40:14] So they have the right idea of the covenant but they don't yet know about Christ exactly.
[00:40:18] And they are trusting in their ability to keep this covenant and we will see that they fail.
[00:40:26] But for us it should not be this way.
[00:40:29] We don't have to trust in our ability.
[00:40:31] We trust in the full sufficiency of the God-man, Jesus Christ, who came and who perfectly fulfilled every jot and tittle of the Old Testament law.
[00:40:42] made in the likeness of sinful flesh yet without sin he has done all that pertains to our salvation our life and our godliness and that is why on the cross he says it is finished
[00:40:55] what more can we do to add to the perfect salvific work of the God-man Jesus Christ his perfect life his death his taking the wrath of God upon him on our account his glorious resurrection
[00:41:13] ascension enthronement above all the demons and Satan himself in heaven at the right hand of the Father and for believers this is for us if you've truly been born again you too the Bible says
[00:41:31] have been made alive in Christ Ephesians 2, 5 and then 6 and have been raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus which is Ephesians 1, far above all principality, demons, and powers, and might, and name that is
[00:41:51] named, any kings, any devils, Satan himself, far above. This is the covenant of God, salvation in Christ. It is a sure thing because of what Christ has done. I believe God has worked in Aubrey
[00:42:10] gibson's life she's been here most of her life well i haven't seen her every sunday but she's been coming here since she was what four something like that i was with her and some others in the
[00:42:28] catechism class maybe eight years ago something like that also ella ayers some of you know ella she was in the same class she's gone on to be with the lord the same age as aubrey but aubrey
[00:42:45] is also going to be with the Lord. Not just when she dies, whenever that may be.
[00:42:52] But now, by grace, through faith, she wants to draw close. God has called. God is drawing. God has humbled her and touched her heart.
[00:43:05] God has...
[00:43:07] You have to listen to her testimony. But through trials that she experienced in college, atheists, roommates and other things, instead of being drawn away from the gospel, I can only thank God that somehow through her parents
[00:43:21] or through coming here and hearing the word of God that was planted in her, she heard that still small voice saying, you come back to me.
[00:43:28] And instead of pulling her away from the faith, it made her turn her about face and run into the arms of Jesus Christ.
[00:43:37] And that's what we're about to experience in just a few moments in the sacrament of baptism.
[00:43:45] In just a few moments, we'll call Aubrey forward.
[00:43:50] But I want to ask you, has this happened in you?
[00:43:55] Has it really happened in you?
[00:43:57] If it hasn't, it needs to happen.
[00:44:00] How does it happen?
[00:44:01] How did it happen for them?
[00:44:04] They subjected themselves not to, is he done yet?
[00:44:09] Is he done yet?
[00:44:10] Can we go?
[00:44:12] Six hours a day in the word of God.
[00:44:16] And they weren't tired of it.
[00:44:18] They said, it's just too much.
[00:44:20] Maybe if you go further, it might not be too much.
[00:44:23] Maybe it might not be enough.
[00:44:25] For them, six hours wasn't enough.
[00:44:27] They showed up the next day.
[00:44:28] Can we hear some more?
[00:44:30] And guess what?
[00:44:32] Eight days in a row, six hours a day, hearing the word of God.
[00:44:36] And that made them ripe.
[00:44:38] And they were ready.
[00:44:39] And they got sackcloth.
[00:44:40] And they got ashes.
[00:44:42] And they're crying out before God.
[00:44:43] Oh, we've sinned.
[00:44:44] We see how wicked we've been as a nation.
[00:44:47] Have mercy on us, Lord.
[00:44:48] All of this has come to us.
[00:44:50] And they didn't say, why has God done me like this?
[00:44:54] But look what they said.
[00:44:56] They said, in all that is done to us, you are just.
[00:45:03] Verse 33, how be it?
[00:45:05] Thou art just in all that is brought upon us.
[00:45:11] For thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly.
[00:45:16] Is that our opinion?
[00:45:18] Why do I have this problem?
[00:45:20] Why do I have this sickness?
[00:45:21] Why do I have this sadness?
[00:45:23] Why does everything always go wrong for me?
[00:45:26] Why am I downcast?
[00:45:28] Why am I suffering this way or that way or the other?
[00:45:32] God, why have you done this to me?
[00:45:34] Have you ever been mad at God?
[00:45:36] Ever been upset with God?
[00:45:39] The attitude is, how be it thou art just?
[00:45:42] And whatever calamity happens to us, though it may not be God directly doing it, it may be other indirect causes, Satan, evil people, whatever it may be, yet God is ultimately in his sovereignty and control
[00:45:55] so why did you allow this God we say how be it, don't ask that you are just in all that is brought upon us for we, you have done right we have done wickedly have you ever been to that place
[00:46:11] if you haven't I invite you before you leave to find that place right here on your knees before the Lord because this is the only salvation.
[00:46:24] The way up is to go down.
[00:46:27] Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.
[00:46:32] These people recognize their sin.
[00:46:34] These people confess their sin.
[00:46:36] They humble themselves.
[00:46:38] Guess what?
[00:46:39] They were reading the law.
[00:46:42] Now this wasn't read.
[00:46:43] This wasn't probably written when they read it, okay?
[00:46:47] But this principle, did they know about it?
[00:46:53] Because it was told to David.
[00:46:56] By the way, who do we think wrote Chronicles?
[00:47:01] Probably Ezra.
[00:47:04] Who's preaching to him?
[00:47:06] Ezra.
[00:47:08] Did he know it?
[00:47:10] He knew it.
[00:47:11] Think in Chronicles 7.14.
[00:47:13] If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves.
[00:47:16] They humbled themselves.
[00:47:17] And prayed.
[00:47:18] They prayed for a fourth part of the day.
[00:47:21] And seek my face.
[00:47:22] They sought his face for another fourth part of the day.
[00:47:25] and repent of their sins they confessed all the sins not of themselves but of the whole nation for 1400 years well for the last whatever it was 900 years since they came in the land turn from their
[00:47:40] wicked ways then will I hear from heaven forgive their sins and heal their land they had it all right but they just had missed one thing because they without us are not made perfect they had it all right
[00:47:55] but Christ had not yet come and they were still bound to try to figure it out how to accomplish it themselves that's why Christ comes and say you can't don't even try I've done it
[00:48:10] I'm making a new covenant with all of you who are believers I'm writing it in my blood it's finished all that needs to be done is done just bow the knee trust in me humble yourself
[00:48:22] lean completely on me for salvation Yes?
[00:48:26] And if any man come unto me and drink, right?
[00:48:29] For out of my belly shall flow rivers of living water.
[00:48:33] He will thirst no more.
[00:48:34] Amen?
[00:48:36] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be...
[00:48:43] Christ is the incarnation of righteousness.
[00:48:46] We need to hunger and thirst for him.
[00:48:48] And once we receive him, we need to hunger and thirst for more.
[00:48:53] Until we find that more.
[00:48:54] that more of eternal abundance which will never run out but only grow greater and greater not that Christ can grow greater but our understanding and appreciation and vision and ability to take in who he is
[00:49:09] and his glory and his righteousness and his perfection Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all eternity without any distractions no more wandering minds in prayer and worship no more looking at the clock no more thinking what you're going to eat for lunch
[00:49:21] no more wondering what's next this absolute focus and pure worship, completely sanctified and consecrated to God, forever and ever enjoying what is greater than we can hope, ask, or think, which has been laid up in heaven for us
[00:49:37] because of the great and mighty sacrifice of the God-man, Jesus Christ, for your sins and for mine and for all who would believe.
[00:49:45] The Passover lamb sacrificed before the foundation of the world, if you will.
[00:49:51] God made this covenant.
[00:49:52] Therefore, we make covenant with Him when we trust in Him.
[00:49:58] I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:50:00] I believe He is the Son of God.
[00:50:02] I believe He died on the cross.
[00:50:04] I repent of my sins.
[00:50:06] I believe He rose again from the dead.
[00:50:08] I'm trusting in Him and you only, Lord, for salvation.
[00:50:13] I ask for your Holy Spirit to come in me.
[00:50:15] And now, though you may not say this when you got born again, but it's essentially, now I covenant to live my life for you because you've purchased me with the blood and the life of your son, Jesus Christ.
[00:50:32] Have you made that covenant with God?
[00:50:37] Aubrey has. The session heard it.
[00:50:40] She's the newest member of Cornerstone ARP Church, praise the Lord.
[00:50:44] And now she's going to declare that wondrous work that God wrought in her through his spirit in the sacrament of baptism.
[00:50:52] Aubrey, if you'd come forward.
[00:50:55] Pastor Andy.
[00:50:59] And her family, if you'd like to come closer, there's seats on the front row available.
[00:51:06] That's fine there, Aubrey.
[00:51:07] I'll be right there.
[00:51:08] When everyone comes up, I'll pray.
[00:51:11] And family, please feel free to fill this front row and or the second row there.
[00:51:22] Let me pray for us.
[00:51:24] Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your wondrous word.
[00:51:27] thank you Lord for how you have wrought in us by your Holy Spirit for faith cometh by hearing hearing by the word of God I thank you for Aubrey she's heard your word out of these lips of clay
[00:51:39] she's heard your word out of the word itself she's heard your word perhaps from her parents and from others and Lord you've wrought in her heart you've initiated that covenant with her calling her to yourself
[00:51:51] in salvation she has repented Lord she has trusted in you and now Lord we look forward as she is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
[00:52:04] this sealing of the covenant not sealed by her hand but sealed by your blood in the name of your Son Christ Jesus we thank you and pray Amen