The Sovereign Heart: God’s Promise to Cleanse and Restore

• Internal Transformation vs. External Ritual [00:41:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that sin is an internal heart condition requiring total renewal, not an external issue solvable by simple hygiene or ritual washing.
• The New Covenant [00:41:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The sermon identifies the text as the covenant of peace/new covenant, promising everlasting peace and restoration for God's people.
• Divine Initiative in Salvation [00:42:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights that God acts for the sake of His holy name, not for the sake of Israel, vindicating His holiness through restoration.
• Vindication of God's Name [00:48:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God acts to prove His righteousness and holiness are correct, specifically to counter the profaning of His name among the nations due to Israel's exile.
• God's Sovereignty and Glory [00:53:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts cultural self-focus with God's primary concern for His own glory, arguing that God's chief delight is in His own perfections to avoid idolatry.
• Purification and Cleansing [00:59:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the necessity of God cleansing His people from internal uncleanness and idols so He can dwell with them, linking this to baptism and the washing of the heart.
• Restoration and Transformation [00:47:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines the threefold nature of God's restoring work: vindication, purification, and transformation, emphasizing that God performs these works sovereignly.
• Cleansing from Sin [00:59:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God must cleanse sinners from the inside (heart/idols) rather than just the outside, achieved through the blood of Christ, not ritual washing.
• Transformation and New Heart [01:08:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor details the promise of a 'new heart' and 'new spirit,' replacing the 'heart of stone' with a responsive 'heart of flesh' to enable true obedience.
• Repentance and Obedience [01:11:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that a new heart leads to feeling the weight of sin (repentance) and empowers believers to obey God from the heart through the Holy Spirit.
• New Creation [01:15:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the internal transformation to becoming a 'new creation,' using the analogy of tearing down a rotten house rather than just painting over it.
• New Creation and Spiritual Transformation [01:17:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God removes the heart of stone and gives a new heart and spirit, describing this as the 'first fruits' or 'first buds' of God's work to eventually make the entire world new.
• Eternal Significance of Salvation [01:18:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor questions the practical importance of this theology, concluding that while all physical hearts will stop beating, having a 'new heart' from God is what ensures one dwells with Him forever.
• Communion and Covenant Cleansing [01:21:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the liturgical elements of bread and wine/juice as spiritual pointers to Christ's cleansing work, emphasizing that the meal is for those washed in Christ's blood and connects the cup to the 'new covenant' mentioned in Ezekiel.

• Sermon Illustration [00:39:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of a patient who is told they need a heart transplant but insists they just have germs and need to wash their hands and change clothes, illustrating the absurdity of trying to solve a deep internal spiritual problem with superficial external fixes.
• Sermon Illustration [00:49:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the historical context of Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel 10) where the glory and presence of God leave the temple and hover before moving away towards the mount, illustrating God removing Himself from His people due to their uncleanness.
• Sermon Illustration [00:50:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the ancient cultural link between a people, their deity, and their land, explaining that if God's people were taken from the land, it appeared to surrounding nations that their God was 'no good' or had failed.
• Sermon Illustration [01:00:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of baptism to illustrate the concept of being washed clean from sin, noting that while baptism is an external witness, the true cleansing is the washing of the inner man and the heart.
• Sermon Illustration [01:18:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his grandfather, Lester Bailey, who marked Ezekiel 36 in his Bible in 1969, connecting the pastor's own preaching preparation to his grandfather's faith.
• Sermon Illustration [01:16:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy from his work as a realtor about houses with rotten floors marked with yellow tape, explaining that covering rotten boards with paint doesn't fix the problem; the house must be torn down and built anew, illustrating spiritual transformation.
• Sermon Illustration [01:05:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the immense time, energy, and money society spends on removing physical dirt (soap, sewage systems) with the little time people spend thinking about the cleansing of their souls.
• Sermon Illustration [01:18:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his grandfather, Lester Bailey. He describes finding his grandpa's 1969 Bible, noting that his grandpa had marked Ezekiel 36 ('A new heart also will I put within you') decades prior. He connects this to his grandpa's death in 2011 from a blood clot after heart surgery, revealing that in his final moments, his grandpa was grateful for the promise of a new heart, illustrating the eternal value of this spiritual truth over physical health.

• Pastoral Charge [00:45:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor invites the congregation to join in a corporate prayer for spiritual sensitivity, heart softening, and Christ-centered focus.
• Pastoral Charge [01:04:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > Cry out in faith for cleansing in the blood of Christ.
• Pastoral Charge [01:13:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > Cry out to God for those with a dull heart.
• Pastoral Charge [01:21:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for unbelievers to come to Christ
• Pastoral Charge [01:21:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > Abstain from communion if not a believer

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:03:07] Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Harbor Church. Here at Harbor, we are a family of God, bound together to glorify and enjoy the Lord forever.
[00:03:17] And we do this by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, strengthening each other in Him, and showing Him to our community and to the world.
[00:03:24] Glad to come with us on that mission this morning. A couple quick announcements.
[00:03:29] I'll simplify the entire announcement sheet that you have in your bulletin.
[00:03:38] We've got an Easter egg hunt and brunch right after the service.
[00:03:42] So if you don't have plans for lunch, just come and eat and then watch the kids run around and do Easter eggs.
[00:03:50] And then we have our Good Friday service, which is coming up this coming Friday.
[00:03:55] This is a joint service with Lighthouse EPC.
[00:03:58] We've done this a couple years in a row now.
[00:04:00] We are going to be hosting.
[00:04:01] So we're asking Harbor, if you guys are coming, please bring either a soup or a shareable dish.
[00:04:08] Think Crock-Pot or Insta-Pot, that sort.
[00:04:12] They're going to be bringing salad and dessert.
[00:04:15] It's a wonderful time to get together as two different congregations to worship the Lord together.
[00:04:22] Also, there are a number of fellowship events and things like that.
[00:04:28] I'm just going to let you read the bulletin.
[00:04:30] But no Wednesday night this week or next week.
[00:04:32] No Sunday school this week or next week as well.
[00:04:35] um all right the lord calls us to worship him uh this morning by his word would you please stand as we recite god's word together i'll begin and if you would respond in the bold and underlined
[00:04:49] i will praise the name of god with a song i will magnify him with thanksgiving when the humble see it they will be glad you who seek god let your hearts revive let heaven and earth praise him
[00:05:05] the seas and everything that moves in them. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, Lord, you must be magnified in our humility. Lord, we will not see how great you are unless we bend our knees to you. Lord, unless we realize that every breath comes from you, every step comes
[00:05:29] from you, every thought comes from you. There is nothing that we have that is not a gift from you.
[00:05:35] Lord, we have our being in you.
[00:05:39] Lord God, even more than that, on top of all the graces that you give to us, Lord, you give us that one grace that matters most of all, the grace of salvation.
[00:05:50] Lord, if we toiled for a thousand years to try our best to do good enough, it would not be adequate.
[00:06:01] It would not even register.
[00:06:03] Lord, all our good deeds outside of Christ are like filthy rags, but Lord, inside of Christ, Lord, you are pleased by them.
[00:06:11] So I pray, Lord God, that you would change our hearts and humble us so that we might see how good and awesome you are.
[00:06:22] So Lord God, to that end, we now pray the Lord's Prayer as we now say all together.
[00:06:27] Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:06:31] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:06:36] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[00:06:42] And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
[00:06:47] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
[00:06:52] As you stand, let's sing together.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:06:56] All right, this is Psalm 100.
[00:06:57] You guys know this tune.
[00:06:58] We sing this tune every Sunday.
[00:07:02] So, let's sing.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:07:02] All people that on earth do dwell Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice Him serve with more than His praise foretell Come ye before Him and rejoice Know that the Lord is God indeed Without our aid He doth us make
[00:07:40] We are His flock, He doth us feed And for His sheep He doth us take O enter then His gates with praise Within His courts your thanks proclaim With grateful hearts your voices raise To bless and magnify His name
[00:08:19] Because the Lord our God is good His mercy is forever His truth at all times firmly stood and shall from age to age endure.

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:08:53] Kevin Swift, one of our deacons, reminded me of this, that Psalm, that Psalter, Psalm 100, was what the pilgrims sung when they first saw land as they approached the new world, singing God's praise, knowing that God took care of them.
[00:09:10] God does so many things for us, and yet sometimes our hearts are very hard.
[00:09:14] I had a friend who often talked about growing up as a little girl that her father would tell her not to stand on the chairs during church so she would obediently sit.
[00:09:25] But she would always say, but in my heart I was standing.
[00:09:29] That's true of all of us.
[00:09:33] It's a big difference between doing what God tells us to do on the outside, but it's on the inside that truly counts.
[00:09:40] And so that's why we confess our sins, that the Lord would not just change our outward behavior, but change us internally as well, that our hearts would desire what the Lord desires.
[00:09:51] So if you would, let's confess our sins together out loud.
[00:09:56] Father of mercy, we confess before you that our chief problem is not the sin of our hands and lips, but the hardness of our hearts.
[00:10:06] We love you and have tasted deeply of your mercy.
[00:10:09] Our hearts are often cold and stony, slow to bear fruit for you.
[00:10:15] Our many sins come from the overflow of hearts that frequently feel dead toward you.
[00:10:22] Although we are no match for the depravity that we find in ourselves, we praise you that our hearts are never beyond your power to change and rescue.
[00:10:33] Would you take a moment quietly in your hearts, would you confess your sins to the Lord?
[00:10:37] Lord God, I confess to you the things that I want to do, I don't do.
[00:10:58] And Lord, I don't just not do them, but sometimes the things I want to do, I don't desire the way I ought to.
[00:11:06] Lord, I'm grateful that this week you have convicted me of the ways in which I have not desired prayer the way that I ought to.
[00:11:13] Lord, you tell us in your word that we are to pray steadfastly, watching and being thankful.
[00:11:22] Lord, I struggle with a steadfast prayer.
[00:11:25] I may pray in fits and starts, but Lord, steadfastly.
[00:11:28] Lord, help me to pray like breathing.
[00:11:30] Help me to pray like eating.
[00:11:32] Lord, help me to desire it like I crave food and coffee.
[00:11:36] Lord, not just so that you would hear my desires, but Lord, ultimately that I would draw in closer communion with you, that I would hear your heartbeat.
[00:11:46] Lord, that I would be overjoyed at your presence.
[00:11:52] Lord, we pray that you would please forgive us of the ways in which our hearts have been cold.
[00:11:57] And Lord, change us.
[00:11:58] In Christ's name we pray, amen.
[00:12:01] If you confess your sins to Almighty God, you need to know that he is faithful and just to forgive us of all of our sins because of what Christ did on the cross.
[00:12:11] And here's the good news from Ezekiel chapter 36.
[00:12:15] The Lord God says, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you.
[00:12:26] These are God's good promises for us.
[00:12:29] Would you please stand in response and sing to him?

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:14:58] We were checking out some of the churches that were closest to us.

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:16:40] We thought it would be really cool if we could go to a church within walking distance.
[00:16:44] Now, we didn't land at any of those churches, but one of those churches we went to, I remember the sermon was on the Holy Spirit.
[00:16:50] And the pastor of that, I'm sure, well-meaning sermon compared the Holy Spirit to the force from Star Wars.
[00:17:00] And that's all I remember about the sermon.
[00:17:02] But I remember thinking, that's not right.
[00:17:05] The Holy Spirit is not a mystical force somewhere out there in the cosmos.
[00:17:13] He is a person.
[00:17:14] He is a person who does real work in the lives of believers.
[00:17:21] As we come to confess our faith this morning, we're confessing from Westminster Shorter Catechism number 31.
[00:17:30] And we are confessing about the work of the Holy Spirit.
[00:17:35] I ask you this morning, dear Christians, what is effectual calling?
[00:17:42] Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit by which convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ and renewing our wills, He persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ
[00:17:59] freely offered to us in the Gospel.
[00:18:04] As we continue with our memory verse this month, our verses 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4, let's say it out loud together.
[00:18:14] For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day
[00:18:28] in accordance with the Scriptures.
[00:18:31] If you're able, let's stand as we continue to sing together.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:18:33] Year by year in the temple Blood was shed by the priest To atone for the people But it could not make them clean

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:19:03] Till He came His spotless Lamb Offered Himself Put away sin Once and for all His faith We bow Jesus our Washed by His blood Jesus our We're seeking good

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:23:34] Our scripture reading this morning comes from Hebrews chapter 8, and this passage serves as a sort of parallel to the majority of our text from the sermon.
[00:23:56] It's a quotation from Jeremiah 31, discussing the blessings of the new covenant that believers receive in Christ.
[00:24:08] Hear God's word this morning.
[00:24:09] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.
[00:24:20] I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts.
[00:24:25] And I will be their God and they shall be my people.
[00:24:30] And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
[00:24:40] for I will be merciful towards their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.
[00:24:47] Amen.
[00:24:49] Pastor Michael is going to come and pray for us.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:24:57] Sometimes to help me pray, I often love to find an older prayer, something that somebody else has prayed before to become part of my own.
[00:25:09] This, I'm going to begin with prayer with a prayer by a Puritan, Lewis Bailey.
[00:25:14] So if you bow your heads and your hearts with me and let's go to God in prayer.
[00:25:19] Lord God, create in us, O Christ, a new heart and renew in us a right spirit.
[00:25:26] Lord, then you will see how we might serve you as a new creature in a new life, after a new way with a new tongue and new manners, with new words and new works to the glory of your name
[00:25:40] and the winning of other souls to your faith.
[00:25:45] Lord, keep us forever.
[00:25:47] Oh, my savior.
[00:25:49] From the torments of hell and tyranny of the devil.
[00:25:52] And when I depart this life, send your angels to carry us as they did the soul of Lazarus into your kingdom.
[00:25:59] Receive us into that joyful paradise you promised to the repentant thief who at his last gasp upon the cross begged for your mercy and admission into your kingdom.
[00:26:12] Grant this, oh Christ, for your own namesake. I give you all glory and honor and praise and dominion both now and forevermore. Lord God, we're grateful for the opportunity and the chance to lift up our hearts
[00:26:27] to you in prayer and to lift up those around us. Lord, our missionaries, our pastors, our friends, our family, and Lord, the lost. So Lord God, we give just a moment of silence, Lord, to pray for
[00:26:42] those who do not know you. Lord God, you know the people that I've been continually praying for.
[00:27:01] Lord, would you please grant them repentance. Lord, give them the gift of new life. Lord, we thank you for our church family, and we pray, Lord God, that you would help us in our hearts, Lord, to care for our family. Lord, we pray for the wares as Pam's recovering
[00:27:22] from surgery. Lord, I'm grateful for how Tim's ear surgery has gone, and Lord, I pray that you would help him to do the really hard work over the next several weeks of not running, of not
[00:27:33] sweating, of not jostling. Lord, I know that is an incredible feat for a 10-year-old, but Lord, you can do all things. Lord, please let his ear heal. Lord, that he might not have complications later on in life. Lord, I pray for Marty Layden's niece's mother-in-law who's having difficulties
[00:27:53] with breathing and anxiety. Lord, I pray for Don Deal's mom. She is just being in a new facility.
[00:28:00] Lord, I give you utter praise for Kent Donovan's healing. And I pray, Lord God, the cancer would not return. Lord, we're grateful for the ways in which you have answered those prayers. Lord, I pray that as we pray, help us to be watchful for the ways in which you answer and then be
[00:28:18] thankful for when we see how you answer them. I pray for Barbara, my sister-in-law, her cancer, as well as Crystal McGowan's father. Lord, continue to work with Bennett, and I'm grateful that seizures have diminished somewhat. Lord, I pray for Janice Carrera's Uncle Mike. Lord God,
[00:28:39] we pray for the mission and ministry, Lord, that our church is connected to. Lord, I want to lift up to you all the volunteers. I'm grateful today for the AV team, for the people who are running
[00:28:50] sound and lights, and for those who set up communion, who greeted this morning, hospitality, nursery. I thank you for the deacons who are providing services today, and I thank you for the elders who are watching carefully over the souls of the church. Please, Lord God,
[00:29:08] help us to be a sacrificial church, a church that loves to care for one another. Lord, I lift up to you the Goizuetas. I'm grateful for their presence here in our church and grateful for Andrew's
[00:29:21] ministry on Davidson campus. Lord, it is a difficult and challenging work. It is also incredibly rewarding. I pray, please, Lord God, that you would, as Davidson begins to slowly wrap up this final year. Lord, that you would please help him to run towards the goal. Lord, I thank
[00:29:42] you for the Davidson students who are here, some of whom are graduating. Lord God, we pray that you would continue steadfastly to preserve their faith, Lord, and help them to run with endurance.
[00:29:59] Lord, I thank you for Dove House and the ways in which our connection through deals that we've been able to help and to prayerfully support them, Lord, and the work that they do to protect
[00:30:12] the most vulnerable in our community.
[00:30:17] Lord, I thank you for Providence Presbyterian in Concord, one of our sister churches in the Presbytery.
[00:30:22] Thank you for Mark Weathers, Ben Ressler.
[00:30:24] I'm so grateful for Ben's friendship and our work together on the missions committee.
[00:30:29] I thank you for Tara, Mark Weather's wife, who helps to run the LAMP program here in our presbytery to provide a seminary-level training, Lord, for those in our presbytery.
[00:30:42] I pray for our worship.
[00:30:45] Would you please challenge us, Lord God, to humbly seek you, not just on a Sunday, but every day.
[00:30:53] Lord, we cannot truly worship you unless your spirit is at work.
[00:30:57] Lord, we pray that you would please give us courage to reach the lost.
[00:31:02] Lord, it takes a lot of courage to talk to somebody, to mention Christ's name, to ask to pray for somebody.
[00:31:11] Please give us that courage to do that.
[00:31:14] And Lord God, we pray for a future church plant out of Harbor and not only that, but within our presbytery.
[00:31:20] Lord, you expand your kingdom.
[00:31:23] And Lord, we ask that you would give us a privilege of being a part of that.
[00:31:26] I now lift up to you, Tyler Spry.
[00:31:28] Thank you for his partnership and friendship as an associate pastor here.
[00:31:32] Please, Lord God, help him to hide behind your text.
[00:31:35] Help him, Lord God, to shine a light on your word.
[00:31:41] And Lord, help him to get out of the way, trusting you that you work by your spirit to change hearts and lives.
[00:31:48] We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen.
[00:31:52] At this time, I'd like to ask the deacons to prepare to take up tithes and offerings.
[00:31:56] This is a chance for us to care for our church well as Harbor members and to honor Christ, not just with our words, but also with our deeds.
[00:32:05] So if you're a visitor this morning, we don't expect anything from you.
[00:32:08] Please don't think that somebody's going to look at you, a dirty look as the offering plate passes you by.
[00:32:15] If you don't want to give today, that's fine, because this is really about us as members.
[00:32:19] We promise to do this, and we joyfully do this.
[00:32:22] And we don't do this out of guilt or out of pressure.
[00:32:24] we do this because we just love Christ, and we love his church, and so we want her to thrive.
[00:32:31] So whenever you give this morning, may you give with a cheerful heart.

[00:34:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:34:23] The heavenly Father, you gave us the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[00:38:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:38:15] Lord, would you change our hearts over so that we might have such joy, Lord, that we might give of ourselves more freely. Lord, take these tithes and offerings, use them for your glory, not our own.
[00:38:29] It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. Would you please stand as we thank God for his blessings

[00:38:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:38:34] by singing doxology together. You may be seated. As we continue through our mini Easter series of

[00:39:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:39:21] Easter in Ezekiel. We are in Ezekiel chapter 36 this morning. So if you have a Bible, go ahead and start flipping it over to Ezekiel 36. If you don't have one but want to grab one, there might
[00:39:35] be one hiding under a chair, maybe in front of you or underneath. As you turn there to Ezekiel 36, I want you to imagine with me a scenario for just a moment. Imagine that you're having some
[00:39:50] health issues. And so you go into the doctor. They run some different tests and some different scans and they tell you this unfortunate news. It's your heart. Your heart is growing weak and it's growing weaker with each passing day and you need a heart transplant. Now that's
[00:40:15] terrifying news for anyone to receive. But imagine with me in this scenario if you turn to the doctor receiving the news of needing a new heart, and you said, you know, doc, I just don't
[00:40:30] think that's my condition. I think I just got some germs. You know, I volunteered in the nursery last Sunday, and I just got some germs. I think I need to just go home and wash my hands, maybe throw on
[00:40:44] a new pair of clothes, and I think I'll be good to go. The doctor would look at you, and he would say, you're nuts. You're nuts. That's not the condition and that's not the solution. The problem
[00:41:03] that God's people were facing in Ezekiel 36 and the problem that all sinners face today is not an external issue. It's not that they needed simply to go and wash up. They needed to be
[00:41:21] totally renewed, totally transformed from the inside out. And the text that we'll read this morning from Ezekiel 36 is the text of the new covenant, what Jeremiah calls it, or the covenant of peace, as Ezekiel calls it. God's people had been taken away into exile and captivity,
[00:41:45] And in these glorious chapters, God is promising to restore them.
[00:41:50] But he's not just promising here to restore them to a temporary land or to temporary fellowship.
[00:41:58] He is promising everlasting peace with God.
[00:42:05] A restoring work in God's people that lasts forever.
[00:42:10] And so with that in mind, we turn our eyes to Ezekiel 36, beginning in verse 22.
[00:42:22] Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
[00:42:43] And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them.
[00:42:56] And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
[00:43:07] I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into the land.
[00:43:17] I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols.
[00:43:28] I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
[00:43:46] And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules.
[00:43:57] You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be My people and I will be your God.
[00:44:05] And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.
[00:44:09] And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.
[00:44:15] I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant that you may never again suffer the disgrace or famine among the nations.
[00:44:25] Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
[00:44:37] It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God.
[00:44:43] Let that be known to you.
[00:44:45] Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
[00:44:51] Thus says the Lord God, On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt, and the land that was desolate shall be tilled
[00:45:06] instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by.
[00:45:12] And they will say, This land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.
[00:45:27] Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord.
[00:45:34] I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate.
[00:45:41] I am the Lord.
[00:45:43] I have spoken and I will do it.
[00:45:50] Would you pray with me?
[00:45:54] Oh God, open our eyes that we would see wonderful and beautiful things in your word.
[00:46:02] Unclog our stopped up ears that we would hear of your majesty on high.
[00:46:07] Lord, soften our dull hearts that they would come alive to your glory.
[00:46:14] Father, lift us up to behold Christ in these few moments.
[00:46:18] we ask that you would do this by the power of your word through your holy spirit amen now if you're a kid out there and you would like a couple of things to listen out for i've got three things
[00:46:33] for you to listen for today listen for mentioning the lord's prayer we said it earlier the lord's prayer, listen out for deodorant, deodorant, and listen third for a rotten house, a rotten house.
[00:46:54] So the Lord's Prayer, deodorant, and a rotten house. We come in this text to behold God's restoring work in His people. And if you're a note taker, I've got three words for you this morning as we walk through this text. We're going to see God's restoring work in vindication,
[00:47:23] vindication, purification, purification, and transformation. Transformation. Tried to make it rhyme for you. So God is restoring his people. And in this text, we will see it through vindication, purification, and transformation. As we come to verse 22, we first behold God's restoration
[00:47:45] through his vindication.
[00:47:49] Now, before we read these couple of verses, I don't imagine that you typically use the word vindication on a normal Tuesday.
[00:47:58] So let me just give you a very brief, easy explanation.
[00:48:03] In this text, to be vindicated means that God is holy, he's pure, he's set apart, but most importantly, that everything he does is right. For God to be vindicated means to prove that He is right in all His acts. He is vindicated.
[00:48:30] So with that in mind, we come to verse 22. Thus, therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, this restorative work that I am about to do, it is not for your sake,
[00:48:48] O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
[00:49:00] And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations.
[00:49:10] The issue in this text is this.
[00:49:15] God's people, because of their uncleanness, because of their sin in chasing after and worshipping false idols, could not dwell with God.
[00:49:28] God cannot dwell in the midst of impurity.
[00:49:33] And so, because of the uncleanness of His people, God removed Himself from among them.
[00:49:41] He removed Himself from their midst.
[00:49:44] He removed Himself from the temple.
[00:49:48] In fact, in Ezekiel chapter 10, Ezekiel has a vision of this, where he watches as the glory and the presence of God leaves the temple, and it hovers, and then it moves away towards the mount, and it moves away.
[00:50:08] And he watches as the protective presence of God walks away from his people.
[00:50:17] And when he leaves his people, they're no longer safe.
[00:50:21] So then God's enemies come in and they take his people and they take his people away into exile.
[00:50:29] And the problem here is this, is that in the ancient times, a people and their deity were linked to the land.
[00:50:46] So here's what this means.
[00:50:47] This means that if you were taken away from the land of your God to the surrounding nations, it looked like your God was no good.
[00:51:03] And the nations were aware of God and His promises to His people.
[00:51:08] His people loved to explain that this is the land of our fathers that was promised to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
[00:51:18] This is the promised land.
[00:51:23] And so, if God's people are no longer in the land that God's promised, how does that make God look to the surrounding pagan nations?
[00:51:36] It doesn't look good.
[00:51:37] In fact, the text says that it looks as if my name has been profaned among you around the nations.
[00:51:50] And so it presents, we could say, if you allow me to put it this way, a kind of dilemma for God.
[00:51:57] Now God never finds Himself in a true dilemma.
[00:52:01] But there is a problem that God is seeking out to solve here.
[00:52:07] My name, in a sense, has been drug through the mud because of your uncleanness.
[00:52:13] I could not be with you.
[00:52:14] And the surrounding nations are watching.
[00:52:18] And they're looking at me and my name.
[00:52:22] and it is profaned.
[00:52:25] And so God sets out on this mission.
[00:52:27] He says, I will vindicate my name.
[00:52:33] I must prove that all my actions, including the sending of my people into exile, is right.
[00:52:43] I will vindicate my name.
[00:52:44] But He says, please don't mix this up.
[00:52:49] It is not for your sake that I am about to act and restore you.
[00:52:55] but for the sake of My great name.
[00:53:03] And you know, this kind of rubs us wrong, doesn't it?
[00:53:07] We live in a world that tells us that we are the highest and the best.
[00:53:16] And the best thing that you could possibly do is show the world who you are.
[00:53:22] How great and how wonderful you are.
[00:53:24] Everything starts and stops with you and how great you are.
[00:53:32] But the Lord says this, there is something much greater than you.
[00:53:38] It is my name.
[00:53:40] Why does God care so much about His name?
[00:53:47] It's because who He is is wrapped up in His name.
[00:53:53] All the character of God comes into His name.
[00:53:58] I am that I am.
[00:54:01] Yahweh.
[00:54:02] Who He is, is wrapped up in His name.
[00:54:06] Everything He does is distilled in who He is.
[00:54:13] That's why we pray every week in the Lord's Prayer.
[00:54:19] The Lord's Prayer.
[00:54:22] Hallowed be Your name.
[00:54:28] So if His name is smeared, His glory, so to speak, is at stake.
[00:54:36] And God will have His glory.
[00:54:40] And God will vindicate His name.
[00:54:43] So His first priority, the first priority of God, is not us.
[00:54:51] It's His glory.
[00:54:52] But this doesn't diminish the wonder of His saving and steadfast love for us.
[00:55:03] However, it does remind us that God's primary first concern isn't us, it's His own name and His own glory.
[00:55:16] And He will have His glory.
[00:55:21] And though this idea seems foreign to us, that God's greatest delight is not in me, His greatest delight is in His own perfections and glories, though that seems foreign, it's absolutely right.
[00:55:40] Just think about this.
[00:55:41] If the chief delight of God was in anything else other than Himself, it would be idolatry.
[00:55:51] And you don't want that.
[00:55:53] And I don't want that.
[00:55:55] So God's chief delight must be in Himself.
[00:55:59] There is nothing higher.
[00:56:01] There is nothing greater than God's glory.
[00:56:05] So it must be His primary and first focus.
[00:56:11] Why does this matter?
[00:56:13] Why does it matter that God would first be concerned with the vindication, the proclaiming the rightness of all His acts?
[00:56:24] Why is that so important?
[00:56:27] Why must He do this?
[00:56:31] Because if God has promised that His people would dwell in the land, if God makes a promise of any kind, then His glory and His name are on the line.
[00:56:48] And He will vindicate that name.
[00:56:52] Therefore, He must do what He says.
[00:56:56] He must.
[00:56:58] Salvation of God's people is start to finish a work of a sovereign God.
[00:57:07] It's a work of God.
[00:57:09] And if He promises that He will save His people, He must do it.
[00:57:14] or His name and His glory falls to the wayside.
[00:57:17] So here's why this matters.
[00:57:20] If God promises, as we sang, that He will cleanse you of your sin,

[00:57:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:57:26] you must be clean,

[00:57:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:57:28] because His name will be vindicated.
[00:57:32] If your cleansing fails by one sin, God's glory dwindles into the dust.
[00:57:42] But because God's name and His glory will always be true.
[00:57:46] God will accomplish the work.
[00:57:49] That's what we see in this text.
[00:57:51] I don't know if you picked it up, but over and over again we see this.
[00:57:57] I will gather My people.
[00:58:02] I will cleanse them of their sin.
[00:58:06] I will remove the heart of stone.
[00:58:09] I will put a heart of flesh.
[00:58:11] I will put My Spirit in you.
[00:58:14] the work of salvation is God's work in you.
[00:58:18] And if His name isn't vindicated, then it's all for nothing.
[00:58:23] But because He will always be true to His promises, you can lean on Him and He will never let you down.
[00:58:31] You come to Him for cleansing and you will be clean forever.
[00:58:35] That's why the glory of God's name and the vindication of His character is the first importance.
[00:58:43] Because if you can't trust God, you can't trust anything in this book, but because you can. When you hide yourself in the refuge of Christ, you will be safe forever. Not because of anything you do, but because God says, I will do
[00:59:03] it. Hallelujah. Are there any old Baptists hiding in here? I mean, that's what I'm talking about.
[00:59:15] God vindicates His name as He restores us.
[00:59:22] But it's not just His vindication.
[00:59:24] It is our purification as He restores us.
[00:59:29] Look at verse 34.
[00:59:32] I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
[00:59:42] I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses.
[00:59:48] And from all your idols, I will cleanse you.
[00:59:52] You see, God is bringing His people out of exile and He's bringing them back home.
[00:59:58] But if we could put it this way, there's another problem that God is up against.
[01:00:05] He couldn't be with His people because of the uncleanness of their sins.
[01:00:09] So if He rounds up the unclean sinners and brings them home, can He dwell with them yet?
[01:00:16] No.
[01:00:17] He must solve the problem in the first place.
[01:00:22] He must cleanse the sinners so that He can dwell with them.
[01:00:29] And that's the first step.
[01:00:32] He makes them clean.
[01:00:35] He purifies them.
[01:00:38] If we have any hope at all to be made right with God, if we have any hope at all of heaven, dwelling with God forever, we must be made clean.
[01:00:55] We must.
[01:00:56] Isn't that what baptism points to?
[01:01:01] Isn't that what we witness every time we watch someone be baptized?
[01:01:06] That we are dirtied because of sin, but glory of glories, there is a way to be made clean as the water washes over us.
[01:01:20] We are washed in Christ.
[01:01:23] How? How can we be made clean?
[01:01:26] Is it just on the outside?
[01:01:27] Is it just with the washing of water?
[01:01:33] It's with the washing of the inner man.
[01:01:37] The washing of the heart.
[01:01:40] The text says this.
[01:01:41] It doesn't say, in order to come back and be restored, my people, you have to go through the purification rituals.
[01:01:49] You've got to wash your hands.
[01:01:50] He says, I will cleanse you not on the outside, but on the inside.
[01:01:56] I will cleanse you from all your idols.
[01:02:02] The problem of God's people wasn't so much that they had done profane things that kept them dirty on the outside.
[01:02:09] The problem of God's people is that they had embraced idolatry in their heart.
[01:02:15] They had gone after other lovers.
[01:02:18] They had chased after false gods.
[01:02:20] they had trusted in idols.
[01:02:24] And so God says, I will not just clean you on the outside, I will cleanse you of all, you notice that?
[01:02:31] All your idols.
[01:02:36] Where does that cleansing come from?
[01:02:40] Did it come from the blood of goats and bulls in Leviticus?

[01:02:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:02:46] No.

[01:02:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:02:48] It comes only by the precious blood of the Lamb.
[01:02:53] The only way God's people are made clean and purified forever is that the God-man left heaven.

[01:03:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:03:04] He came, He took on the form of humankind.
[01:03:08] He dwelt among us.

[01:03:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:03:11] That He would grow and that at 33 years He would be the Lamb led to the slaughter.
[01:03:19] So that the blood of Christ would effectively wash us once and forever.
[01:03:26] Oh, not as a sacrifice to be offered over and over again, but as a once for all final sacrifice, the precious blood of Christ to purify for all eternity those who would come to Him.
[01:03:43] So that as Revelation 7.14 says, as the saints come out, They are washed white in white robes in the blood of the Lamb.
[01:03:59] That is how we are made clean once and for all.
[01:04:04] If Christ's blood makes us clean, how do we get it?
[01:04:08] How do we lay claim of the cleansing work of Christ?
[01:04:13] Because salvation, start to finish, is that work of God.
[01:04:18] We, like David, must cry out by faith.
[01:04:24] We must cry out to the Lamb, wash me, wash away all my iniquity, Psalm 51.
[01:04:34] And cleanse me, O God, from my sin.
[01:04:38] Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean.
[01:04:42] Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
[01:04:46] Do you want the cleansing work of Christ this morning?
[01:04:50] Then you cry out in faith to Him, Wash me, O God, in the blood of Christ, and I will be clean.
[01:05:00] One commentator wrote this, that it's incredible how much time and energy we spend trying to remove dirt.
[01:05:10] As whole societies, we have public water supplies, sanitation, sewage systems.
[01:05:19] Add to that all the vast amounts of money that we spend on soap, gels, disinfectants, scrubs, deodorants, cosmetics.
[01:05:33] There is no length that we will stop at to get rid of physical dirt.
[01:05:42] Yet how little time we put in thinking about the cleansing of our soul.
[01:05:51] How would your week look different this week if a fraction of the time you spent getting rid of physical dirt, you worshiped the Lord for cleansing you from your sin?
[01:06:09] What if we spent a little bit more of that time focusing on having a clean conscience before the Lord?
[01:06:17] What would that look like?
[01:06:22] To worship God this week for cleansing you of every sin.
[01:06:29] That's what the text says.
[01:06:30] All uncleanness.
[01:06:33] But every sin?
[01:06:35] Are you sure?
[01:06:36] Every sin?
[01:06:40] Lest you think that any of your sins are beyond the cleansing work of God, hear what the Bible says is true of the saints of God in the church of Corinth.
[01:06:55] Listen to what's true of them in 1 Corinthians 6.
[01:07:00] Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
[01:07:07] Do not be deceived.
[01:07:09] Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
[01:07:27] And such were some of you.

[01:07:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:07:35] But you were washed.
[01:07:42] You were sanctified.

[01:07:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:07:45] You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.
[01:07:54] Oh, Christian, do not shrink back from God in fear of punishment for your sins.
[01:08:04] He cleanses His people.
[01:08:07] And because He's true to His promises, His people are forever and always clean.
[01:08:14] So like we sang, we draw near to the throne of grace because the uncleanness has been removed.
[01:08:25] Vindication and purification.
[01:08:28] But the restoring work of God doesn't stop there.
[01:08:31] It continues on into transformation.
[01:08:36] Verse 26, And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you.
[01:08:45] And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
[01:08:53] And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
[01:09:03] You know, that old saying goes something like this, the heart of the human problem is the human heart.
[01:09:12] You see, God doesn't just cleanse His people from past sins, but He transforms them with a new heart so that they can obey in the future.
[01:09:27] He changes God's people, not just wiping us up and cleaning us, but transforming us that we could truly from the heart follow Him.
[01:09:38] He says it this way, I accomplish this transforming work in this with a new heart and a new spirit.
[01:09:49] Not just the outer man, but the inner man.
[01:09:52] God is promising here that He will transform us in our minds to think differently.
[01:10:01] In our emotions to feel differently.
[01:10:05] And in our wills to desire and obey differently.
[01:10:12] This is the work that He promises He will do in every believer.
[01:10:18] I will remove the heart of stone.
[01:10:22] that old, hard heart that is unresponsive to the wonder of God and refuses to obey the Word of God, the Lord says, I will take that and remove it.
[01:10:41] I'll rip it out.
[01:10:43] But I won't just leave a void in you.
[01:10:46] I will place in you a heart of flesh.
[01:10:50] A heart that is new.
[01:10:53] That is soft.
[01:10:54] that is responsive to the glory of God and alive to His ways.
[01:11:02] A heart that feels differently.
[01:11:05] A mind that thinks differently.
[01:11:07] A will that desires differently.
[01:11:10] This is the transforming work of God.
[01:11:13] And when God gives us a new heart, there's something interesting that happens.
[01:11:21] Down in verse 32, it says that it is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord.
[01:11:29] Let it be known among you.
[01:11:31] Be ashamed and confounded for your ways.
[01:11:36] Be ashamed and confounded.
[01:11:38] Transformation brings repentance.
[01:11:43] A heart that is soft is first soft towards sin.
[01:11:50] And when God gives us a heart that is soft towards sin, We feel the weight.
[01:11:59] We feel it.
[01:12:01] And He says that we feel ashamed.
[01:12:05] And if we're honest, we try to avoid feeling bad and feeling ashamed and feeling guilt at all costs.
[01:12:14] So we self-medicate and we numb and we distract so that we don't have to feel the weight of sin.
[01:12:24] But God doesn't give us a soft heart to feel the weight of sin so that we would dive into despair, but so that we would run to our Deliverer.
[01:12:36] God doesn't give us a soft heart to crush us by our sin and guilt, but to comfort us by clinging to Christ.
[01:12:47] That's why we feel the weight of sin.
[01:12:50] Not so that we would be driven and crushed, but so that we would cling to the only Savior, Jesus Christ.
[01:12:59] I want to ask you this morning, do you hate your sin?
[01:13:08] In feeling the weight of your sin, do you despise it or do you cherish it?
[01:13:17] Do you hold on to it with as much strength as you can?
[01:13:21] Do you hide it in the corner and coddle it?
[01:13:24] As long as you don't get caught out, that's what I want.

[01:13:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:13:29] As long as I don't get caught, I'll be okay.

[01:13:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:13:31] Or do you have a heart that says, I hate this sin?
[01:13:41] I think the Bible would teach us that if we go on sinning and we feel no shame for it, and we have no desire to leave our sin behind, then we should take serious stock
[01:13:54] as to whether or not we have ever been transformed by God.
[01:13:59] And if you find yourself with that dull heart, cry out to Him.
[01:14:08] Transformation brings repentance, but transformation also brings obedience.
[01:14:15] He doesn't just promise to take out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh, one that can feel the Word of God and respond to it.
[01:14:25] He also promises this, I will put My Spirit in you.
[01:14:31] Not just a new heart, but the Holy Spirit who will come and dwell inside of you.
[01:14:40] The indwelling work of the Spirit is the work of God that brings us alive to Him.
[01:14:48] Brings us into communion with Him so that we can obey Him from the heart.
[01:14:56] It's not just possible for believers to do the right things on the outside.
[01:15:03] It is possible for believers because of the renewing work of the Holy Spirit to obey from a heart of love made new that we could obey.
[01:15:16] We are given spiritual life for spiritual living.
[01:15:24] He doesn't just call us to live differently.
[01:15:26] By giving us His Spirit, He empowers us to new life.
[01:15:34] Transformation brings repentance.
[01:15:36] Transformation brings obedience.
[01:15:39] Transformation also brings a new creation.
[01:15:44] Down in verse 35, when this restorative work happens, God says this, and they will say this land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden and the waste and desolate and ruined cities
[01:16:00] are now fortified and inhabited.
[01:16:05] The Bible says that the transforming work God does in us is that He makes us not just a little better, but a new creation.
[01:16:16] A new creation like the Garden of Eden.
[01:16:22] In my work as a realtor, I've come into a lot of interesting houses.
[01:16:29] I've gone through some houses where they'll have the doors to certain rooms marked off with yellow tape that says, do not enter.
[01:16:37] And almost always it's because the floor is rotten.
[01:16:42] And so they don't want you to go into those rooms because you might fall through.
[01:16:49] Now some people try to cover up those rotten boards by throwing a fresh coat of white paint on there.
[01:16:59] But you know, covering up what's rotten never fixes the problem, does it?
[01:17:05] When you have a rotten house, the only solution is this.
[01:17:11] It must be torn down and built anew.

[01:17:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:17:16] God promises this.
[01:17:18] I will not just paint white paint over your rottenness.
[01:17:25] I will remove it from you.
[01:17:28] I will remove your heart of stone

[01:17:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:17:30] and I will give you a new heart with a new spirit that I will put in you to make you a new creation.
[01:17:38] A new creation.
[01:17:41] And the creating work that God is doing in us is just the first fruits.
[01:17:49] God will make you new.
[01:17:52] But that's just the first buds of God's flower as He makes all things new.
[01:17:59] As He makes this entire world, heaven and earth, one day brand new.
[01:18:06] That's the transforming work He's doing in you for the rest of eternity.
[01:18:14] Now, why does all this matter?
[01:18:17] Why do I need to know this theology?
[01:18:20] What's the big deal about getting a new heart from God?
[01:18:26] I'll tell you why.
[01:18:29] I have a practice that I like to do on some Sundays if I'm feeling particularly weary about preaching, if I feel like God won't work.
[01:18:38] I like to go and I like to grab one of the Bibles that I have from my grandpa.
[01:18:43] This was my papa, Lester Bailey's Bible.
[01:18:48] He got this Bible in 1969 on May 7th.
[01:18:54] And he used it well.
[01:18:58] And he marked it up.
[01:18:59] And so I went to read in this Bible this morning.
[01:19:03] And I thought, I'll turn to my sermon text.
[01:19:06] I'll turn to Ezekiel chapter 36.
[01:19:10] And as I turned there, I noticed that one day, with his big thick glasses, Papa had a pen in his hand.
[01:19:20] And he read Ezekiel 36.
[01:19:23] And he marked out these verses.
[01:19:25] A new heart also will I put within you.
[01:19:32] Maybe some 50 years ago, he was trusting in this text.
[01:19:38] And 14 years ago, in 2011, Papaw got the news that he had a weak heart.
[01:19:47] And so he had to go in for heart surgery.
[01:19:51] Surgery went well, except shortly after a massive blood clot stopped his heart from beating.
[01:20:00] And in those moments, do you know what he was grateful for?

[01:20:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:20:05] A new heart will I put within you and a new spirit, and I will cleanse you from all your iniquity.

[01:20:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:20:18] Beloved, unless Christ comes back, all of us one day will have hearts that will stop beating.
[01:20:25] And what will matter most is this.
[01:20:27] Has God given you a new one?
[01:20:31] Because if he has, you will dwell with him forever. Come Lord Jesus, make all things new. Let's pray. Oh Lord our God, we praise you that you always are good on your promises. We thank you for making your cleansing available to us.
[01:21:01] Oh Lord, I pray, I pray that for anyone here who has never been washed in your blood, that this morning would be the day that they come to Christ. We ask this, O Lord, that you would do this work
[01:21:15] by the power of your Word, through your Spirit. Amen. As the elders come forward and we prepare for communion, we come now to the Lord's table. This is the table that represents the cleansing work of Christ.
[01:21:38] There's nothing particularly special in the bread and in the wine.
[01:21:45] They aren't magical, but these are the spiritual elements that point us to the cleansing work of Christ.
[01:21:57] And so if this morning you have never trusted in the saving work of Christ, if Christ has never cleansed you of your sins, then we ask that you would let these elements pass you by.
[01:22:08] and not because we want to judge you, but because this is the meal for those that have been washed in the blood of Christ.
[01:22:16] And so it was on the night in which Jesus was betrayed, He took the bread and He broke it, and He said, this is My body given for you.
[01:22:26] Eat of it, all of you, in remembrance of Me.
[01:22:31] And here at Harbor, we like to serve family style, which just means if you'll hold on to your bread until we've all been served, we'll all partake together.
[01:22:41] And in these few moments, as we observe some silence, go, pray, worship the Lord, the body of Christ given for us.
[01:25:39] Let's eat in remembrance of him.
[01:25:47] After the supper, Jesus took the cup and said, this is the cup of my blood in the new covenant, the same new covenant that we just read in Ezekiel.
[01:25:58] The blood of the covenant shed for many for the forgiveness and the cleansing of sins.
[01:26:07] Now here at Harbor, we serve both wine and grape juice.
[01:26:10] Wine is on the outermost ring.
[01:26:12] Juice is on all the inner rings.
[01:26:15] And just like with the bread, if you'll hold until everyone's been served, we'll all partake together.
[01:29:08] The blood of Christ shed for us, let's drink in remembrance of him.
[01:29:11] Let's pray.
[01:29:18] Oh Lord, our God, we can never give you thanks enough for cleansing us.
[01:29:26] And oh Lord, is it good to be clean.
[01:29:28] We thank you for Jesus.
[01:29:31] In his name we pray, amen.
[01:29:34] Would you stand as we sing our closing song together?
[01:32:58] Before you receive the Lord's benediction, I have maybe an unusual amount of instructions for you.
[01:33:21] So we have our brunch, first brunch, then egg hunt.
[01:33:27] But for the kids before brunch, we have our last Advent devotional.
[01:33:34] No, not Advent, Easter.
[01:33:35] It's not Advent, it's Easter time.
[01:33:38] Still same Jesus.
[01:33:40] All right, we have our Easter devotion, our last one in the classroom straight ahead.
[01:33:44] They have a special snack for you, so no need to stop at the other snacks.
[01:33:48] So the kids will go straight back for their Easter devotion.
[01:33:53] And then we will begin brunch 11.20ish.
[01:33:59] So no food ready yet, but about 11.20 you can start heading over there to eat.
[01:34:05] And after brunch, I'll give some instructions for starting our egg hunt.
[01:34:10] Now, I'm going to ask you kids and parents to do the hardest thing possible.
[01:34:15] Stay off the playground between now and egg time, okay?
[01:34:21] So no playground, you'll ruin all the fun.

[01:34:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:34:25] All right.

[01:34:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:34:26] I think that's all the instructions.
[01:34:27] Have I missed any instructions?
[01:34:31] There again.
[01:34:36] Receive the Lord's benediction over you from Romans chapter 8.
[01:34:39] There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[01:34:48] Amen.