 the goodness and severity of God. Judges chapter 10 verses 1 through 16. Well the title of the sermon is a reference to the same phrase from Paul that we find in Romans chapter 11 verse 22 where Paul says therefore consider the goodness and severity of God. On those who fell severity but toward you goodness if you continue in his goodness otherwise you also will be cut off the goodness and severity of God. Words also mean kindness and sternness right the kindness and sternness of God. God is good God is kind to those in Christ despite how undeserving we are we know that we are manifestly undeserving of the goodness and the kindness of God and God at the same time is absolutely unyielding unwavering uncompromising toward sin and toward unbelief and absolutely terrifying severity awaits those who die in their sin and an abundant a blessed immeasurable goodness awaits those who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ if Paul says you continue in his goodness. Now Paul is referring in Romans chapter 11 to the children of Israel who are cut off from God in unbelief and toward them and throughout the book of Judges we see over and over and over again both the goodness and the severity of God severity toward those who fell into idolatry toward those who forgot the Lord their God went and served the gods of the nations all around them we see God's retributive justice in delivering them over into the hands of their enemies to scourge and to chasing them for their idolatry and how God himself puts them under severe judgments for abandoning the covenant and at the same time in the book of Judges we're also reminded time and time again of the goodness of God aren't we despite the fact that Israel is a stubborn and stiff-necked people God remembers his covenant goodness he remembers his faithfulness his word to their fathers he continues to look on them in their misery with compassion we see that over and over again he looks on them with mercy he hears their cry he remembers the covenant that he made with them and over and over and over and over and over again God delivers his wayward people we're reminded of what Peter says that the patience of our Lord is salvation we're to see his long suffering his patience as salvation that goodness all the more magnified against the continuous persistent backdrop of Israel's sin and rebellion it's stunning the contrast between the two is absolutely stunning in the book of Judges the professing church today loves to exalt the goodness of God they love to preach the goodness of God think about the goodness of God extol the goodness of God but they do so at the expense of exalting the severity of God at the same time which is also good Paul warns us here to consider both consider both the goodness and the severity of God it's also true today in the modern church that the the definition of God's goodness that they choose to exalt is not a biblical definition we'll see that some as we look at the text tonight the goodness that they imagine from God is not the same character or the same quality of God's goodness that we find revealed to us in the Bible they presume to worship God through a false or unbiblical understanding of his goodness we'll consider that as well as we work through the text we want to consider our text this evening Judges chapter 10 verses 1 through 16 under three headings one God's goodness verses 1 through 5 to God's severity verses 6 through 14 and then third the character of God's goodness in verses 15 and 16 God's goodness God's severity and then the character of his goodness let's begin with God good God's goodness verses 1 through 5 and verse 1 verse 1 begins with the words after abimelech now if you've been following along with us as we've been working through the the book of Judges those words in and of themselves are gracious and good words from God after abimelech shows or expresses the goodness of God to his own people the wicked tyrant derelict usurper bramble king abimelech has been put down and praise God God knows how to put down the wicked right he knows how to put down those who oppress his his people all of that by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God he sets the wicked he sets their feet in slippery places the psalmist says they are brought to desolation in a moment utterly consumed with terrors we may see occasionally or think the wicked prosper but God knows how to put down the wicked he knows how to take care of his own the words after abimelech are good words they're gracious words they truly express the goodness of God now when the Lord continues to pour out his goodness look at verse 1 after abimelech there arose to save Israel tola the son of pua the son of dodo a man of isekar and he dwelt in shamir in the mountains of Ephraim now think about with me abimelech was a son of gideon son of gideon by his shechemite concubine the son of gideon by a canaanite right so abimelech wasn't a full israelite himself he would have been viewed that way here we have in verse 1 now coming after abimelech tola son of pua son of dodo a man of isekar why would our author here take time to belabor the genealogy if you will of tola it's because tola by contrast to abimelech was a true israelite he's an israelite indeed and that's why our author labors to give the lineage here he was a true israelite raised up out of the tribes tribes of israel to save or to deliver israel he was a man of isekar to save israel from what well no details are given here in other accounts the lord has delivered israel into the hands of this enemy or that enemy no details are given to us in this count we just know that he arose to save israel he was brought up by the hand of god to save them save them from what we don't know but ultimately tola was raised to save israel from the judgment of god tola as the other judges raised to save israel from the severity of god i think with me that's true of us today in our own salvation ultimately tola was to save israel from the wrath of almighty god do their sin to save israel from the severity of god no enemies here are mentioned no exploits are mentioned only in verse two that he judged israel 23 years and he died and he was buried in shamir ordinarily thinking of these judges rising and the judges falling ordinarily we used to be we'd be used to hearing after he judged israel 23 years and then he died we'd be used to hearing and then the children of israel again did evil in the eyes of the lord again played the harlot with the bales that's what would be we'd be accustomed to hearing so then god would deliver them into the hands of their enemy into the hands of some pagan people some canaanite group but it's interesting in verse two that's not what we have here it may be that that's exactly what happens we're not given the details but the text seems to indicate that one period of peace under tola is then succeeded by another period of peace it seems that one period of peace under the rule of a judge is simply followed by another period of peace look at verse three this is a display of god's goodness this is a display of god's goodness toward an undeserving people after him verse three arose jair a gileadite and he judged israel 22 years notice in verse three it doesn't say that jair saved israel it's interesting isn't it doesn't say that he saved israel it says here that he judged israel it looks to be that jair immediately follows tola there's nothing to save israel from it's just a period of peace god has raised up a judge jair to follow on the heels of tola this is the goodness of god isn't it the goodness of god he judged israel jair judged israel 22 years so between jair and tola 45 years of peace in israel and again the goodness of god 45 years falls short doesn't if we remember the jew belief from leviticus 25 falls just short of that 50 years of completion where the trumpets would be blown and the captives would be set free and the debts would be forgiven they come just shy of a jubilee year 45 years is a long time not quite long enough right not quite long enough it's not exactly what we're looking for what we're waiting for is for god to usher in an everlasting peace right they were made that promise they were looking forward to that promise but that's not exactly what they get god will fulfill that promise god will bring in everlasting peace through the everlasting reign and the everlasting kingdom of the everlasting prince of peace this is just a taste here verses two just a taste verse three a mere shadow like all shadows it doesn't quite live up to the reality tola verse two jair verse three what about jair verse four he had 30 sons who wrote on 30 donkeys they also had 30 towns which are called havat jair to this day which are in the land of gilead and jair died and was buried in kamman the fact that jair was a gileadite and judged israel from gilead is important because in the distress that follows you remember the lord delivered them into the hands of the philistines also uh the the distress that follows all due to israel's sin gilead is going to be in the cross hairs of god's judgment by the hand of amon it would lead or be gilead who would be called upon uh who would call upon jephtha to deliver them from amon and then we have samson who would deliver israel from the philistines however long the peace lasted 45 total years it will always be temporary and that's one of the lessons of judges however long the peace lasts the peace will be temporary and the peace will be tainted as good as it must have been 45 years jair is just a man tola just a man and they are sinful men look at jair 30 sons not including daughters so what does that tell you it tells you many wives many wives there's some in our church that are trying to catch up they're not going to make it they're not going to make it 30 sons not counting daughters that means multiple wives jair multiplied wives to himself just like who just like gideon remember gideon the lord has specifically said deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 17 that kings rulers in israel were not to multiply wives to themselves why was that law that good just holy law given well it's the main reason was that so the leader in multiplying wives to himself would not be turned away from the lord his heart would be turned away essentially by his wives away from the lord and we see that happen multiple times in scripture god's word always proving to be true his 30 sons jair's 30 sons wrote on 30 donkeys that's the way that kings and princes got around in those days so what do we see those 30 sons writing around on 30 donkeys were over 30 cities in other words they were living like kings another comparison with gideon can't help but draw similarities between them and the downfall of gideon gideon refused an offer to be king but they ended up living like a king multiplying wives multiplying wealth multiplying sons and gideon's heart was drawn away from god and here we don't have all the details with respect to jair but we see jair doing relatively the same thing there's a substantial peace in israel that peace indicative of the goodness of god the grace of god the mercy of god undeserved but it's foreshadowed you could say you can see it there in the white spaces between the lines that peace is not destined to last it simply cannot last why because these are fallible men we need an everlasting king we need the prince of peace we need a savior but those periods of peace given by the lord would offer hope to israel of the messiah unless we think that hope was strictly restricted to the old testament they certainly hoped in the messiah with every passing period of judgment right every time they fall back into their sin god delivers them into the hands of their enemies they're oppressed they're under severe distress they're in despair and they cry out to god with every repetition of that pattern certainly there were those among the children of israel who pleaded with god for a full and final deliverance right pleaded with god to be delivered from their oppressors pleaded with god to be saved from their sin pleaded with god for the coming of his messiah it was overwhelmingly obvious to them that lasting peace wouldn't be possible through any human deliverer and so what inevitably happens or what happens is exactly what we have grown to expect would happen verse six then the children of israel again did evil in the sight of the lord how many times have we heard that refrain already in the book of judges they again did evil in the sight of the lord and served the bales and the asterisks but notice they're stacking up idolatry now serve the bales and the asterisks the gods of syria the gods of sydon the gods of moab the gods of the people of amon and the gods of the philistines and they forsook the lord and did not serve him that's a little addendum to the end as if we couldn't have figured that out that's an understatement right forsaking the lord did not serve him they absolutely abandoned the goodness of god to them and the people resort to idolatry we're reminded that in their natural condition the fallen heart of man his goodness to them which is abundant his mercies abundant that goodness not compelling enough to compel them to any perseverance for him to any faithfulness any steadfastness any basic gratitude didn't even express just basic gratitude to the lord for all that the lord has done we've got to remember to thank the lord right continuously gratitude on our lips on our heart for all that the lord has blessed us with they forgot him forsook the lord did not serve him as soon as jair dies they pursue their sin and not just pursue their sin they pursue with reckless abandon flat out full speed sprint away from god right the restraints come off at the death of the judge they see it as a get out of jail free card the husband goes out of town for a week and i could do what i want right the parents leave the house for the night i could do what i want time to party time to relax i'm tired of the restraints i'm tired of the accountability i'm going to do what i want and what you want is a brazen high-handed self-indulgent wickedness it's like the prison conversion testimonies right we've seen those in prison model servants of god they write flowing eloquent letters filled with praise and gratefulness to god for all that he's done for them but as soon as they're let out start running with the same crowd running in the same course of debauchery they ran in before it was nothing more than a jailhouse confession notice it's not just the bales this time in verse six israel is glutting herself on pagan gods you notice it's getting worse don't you as we're working through the book their spiritual decline is accelerating their spiritual decline is going lower and lower and lower and lower it's like a caged animal that as soon as the bars come off the cage as soon as the the door is unlocked they are wild wanting into their sin pursuing their rebellion wallowing in sin with abandon bail the asterisks the gods of syria gods of sydon gods of moab gods of amon and the philistines anything but the god of the bible how degenerate is the human heart we need a renovation of our nature that's what the human heart needs that's the response of the human heart to the righteousness the holiness the goodness of god we rebel against him just consider for a moment how good god has been and yet in our flesh we're so prone to wander those are christians that are prone to wander the loss just run headlong into their sin given opportunity we need a spirit within us 45 years of the continued goodness of god followed in response by unbridled wickedness so in verse 6 what's going on here what's going on in verse 6 the bride remember this is the covenant people of god the bride has once again come out of her dressing room to play the whore with other lovers it's how we see the lord describing wayward israel in ezekiel 16 isn't it here she multiplies her acts of harlotry this is the way the lord describes them in his ezekiel 16 provoking the lord to anger she multiplies her acts of harlotry and this is the continuing theme of the book we see the goodness of god the faithfulness of god and the persistent increasing downward spiraling sin of the people and so what does the bridegroom do what does the bridegroom do the bridegroom is good the bridegroom delivers her over to suffer the horrific consequences of her harlotry if israel will not remember god for his goodness then israel will be brought to remembrance through his severity do you see if israel will not remember the lord for his goodness israel will be brought to remember the lord through his severity verse 7 so the anger of the lord was hot against israel and he sold them into the hands of the philistines and into the hands of the people of amon the language of verse 7 figuratively refers to a blast of hot air from the nostrils of god literally that word anger is referring to the nostrils of god lord's nostrils now for those considering here the incommunicable attributes of god in our study with our church this is both think with me of how this is the case this is both anthropomorphic and anthropopathic right it's both anthropomorphic and anthropopathic what we see in verse 7 is the unchanging settled it's not sudden it's not arbitrary it's not short fused or trigger happy it's not the way god is what we see in verse 7 is the unchanging immutable settled determined divine disposition toward sin particularly the sin of idolatry that settled divine disposition is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men and this is the severity of god toward their sin in other words this is in a light matter no lot light matter god is not merely disappointed he's not merely grieved or merely offended this is undiluted perfect full righteous anger toward wickedness and god's wrath is a perfect wrath it's a severity that you and i it's exactly what you and i would expect to see considering god's goodness isn't it if god is good then god must be just if god is good he must be just make a rhyme out of that a god who isn't just isn't good if he's not just he's not good and if god is just that he will punish sin god's wrath then is an expression it's a righteous response of his holiness to all that is unholy and that is forever true of god in a perfect absolute measure that's why without holiness no one will see the lord without holiness no one will see the lord without holiness you're under the righteous wrath of almighty god and wrath is an expression it's a response of his holiness to unholyness on verse 8 from that year philistines the people of amon harassed and depressed the children of israel for 18 years 18 years all the children of israel who are on the other side of the jordan in the land of the amorites in gilead that word they're harassed and oppressed it's two words that sound very much alike it's a word play it means shattered and battered it's a good way to think about the word play shattered and battered they are decimated decimated and broken down they were destroyed that word for shattered means destroyed and broken oppressed harassed and oppressed sometimes in reading through the bible right we can sometimes lose a sense of the reality of the what the words are saying what is meant and because we're we've not experienced those kinds of things ourselves we can sometimes overlook the the dire circumstances that they were in imagine israel being invaded imagine our country being invaded and we've got nothing we have no one we're handed over into the hands of our enemies who are decimating us shattering us breaking us oppressing us right this these are devastating circumstances verse 9 more over the people of amon crossed over the jordan to fight against judah also against benjamin against the house of effray them so that israel was severely distressed they were invaded killed afflicted 18 years this is the severity of god the severity of god severity of god had caused severe distress amon is the instrument of god's righteous retribution amon the philistines are the agency of god's severity and amon is entirely responsible for their own sin in this interesting isn't it entirely responsible for all the evil possible for all the evil that they do this is the doctrine of divine concurrence that we've talked about god who is sovereign overall uses amon as an agent of his justice even though amon herself is unjust this is the lord's righteous retribution against his rebellious people in ezekiel chapter 16 thinking about how that text correlates here god gives us an example an illustration of the bride groom's response to the harlotry of his bride the lord says in ezekiel 16 i stretched out my hand against you listen diminished your allotment and gave you up to the will of those who hate you now remember this is the lord exacting judgment pouring out his wrath upon a wayward harlot bride in the old testament here old testament israel diminished your allotment i gave you up to the will of those who hate you the daughters of the philistines who were ashamed of your lewd behavior you also played the harlot with the assyrians because you were insatiable indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied that's true of every sinner simply will not have enough of your sin and you think to yourself well as i get older i'll sin less no just sin takes different shape different forms your heart not satisfied filled to the glut with your sin and still not satisfied verse 29 moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader caldea and even then you were not satisfied how degenerate is your heart says the lord god it's almost a statement of astonishment lord knows all things lord knows how degenerate the heart of man is and he brings this up to them for them to consider how degenerate is your heart seeing you do all these things the deeds of a brazen harlot so verse 40 he says they shall also bring up an assembly against you they shall stone you with stones thrust you through with their swords they shall burn your houses with fire execute judgments on you in the sight of many women and i will make you cease playing the harlot you shall no longer hire lovers so i will lay to rest my fury toward you lord says i'll recompense your deeds on your own head it's terrifying isn't it absolutely terrifying how do the people respond verse 10 the children of israel cried out remember 18 years has lapsed took 18 years the children of israel we are in our fallen conditions so stiff-necked aren't we it's a my shame so often just hard headed hard hearted rebellious the children of israel cried out to the lord saying we have sinned against you because we have both forsaken our god and served the bales all right this looks like it's got potential what does the bride do well the bride does exactly what we've come to expect that the bride would do she cries out for deliverance 18 years under the lord's judgment pain death misery woe severe distress 18 years considering the severity of god for her sin she cries out to the lord for deliverance this is the same old song and dance second verse same as the first the lord desires the repentance of the nation isn't that what this is verse 10 we've sinned against you she's confessing her sin here before the lord we have to remind ourselves that confession of sin isn't repentance she's confessing her sin some present the gospel you know this and simply admit believe and confess that's the presentation of the gospel our response to the gospel should be nothing more than just to admit believe and confess it's as easy as abc just admit believe and confess admit that you're a sinner believe in jesus christ and confess your sin what's the problem with that picture is it isn't enough it isn't enough to admit your sin it isn't enough to confess your sin you must turn away from your sin you must repent we've noted the lord's righteous retribution notice his righteous rejection verse 11 righteous rejection verse 11 so the lord said to the children of israel then did i not deliver you from the egyptians and from the amirites and from the people of amad and from the philistines haven't we been through all this before how many times are we going to go through this israel how many times verse 12 also the sydonians the malachites the malinites oppressed you you cried out to me and i delivered you from their hand and right back where we started you are right back in the same spot right back in the position you were in before i delivered you even worse where is your love where's your devotion to me where's your heart and that's the point verse 13 yet for all that for all those times i delivered you you have forsaken me and served other gods therefore god says i'll deliver you no more now that again the severity of god isn't god threatens here to deliver them up to hand them over i will deliver you no more we've been through this before we're not going to go through it again this is the same old song and dance go cry out to the gods which you've chosen let them deliver you in the time of your distress it's time for israel learn a hard lesson israel you know you can imagine ha maybe a brief moment of panic sweeps over them wait a minute all i have to do is acknowledge my sin isn't it we've confessed our sin what more would you have us do i'm supposed to ask for forgiveness and as long as i ask for forgiveness god is supposed to forgive me and that's how this whole thing works nope you've been spending too much time in satan sunday school class somebody sold you a bill of goods somebody's told you a deceitful lie you've forgotten maybe you've never known that god is just and god is righteousness and god demands holiness without which no one will see the lord god will not be manipulated by your crocodile tears god will not be manipulated by your hypocritical face what a man sows that will he also reap mere recognition is not real repentance proverbs chapter 28 verse 13 but whoever confesses and forsakes his sin will have mercy well the whoring bride has done this over and over and over again demonstrating in that that she's unwilling to change unwilling to change she's miserable under the conviction under the misery and distress of her sin and so she comes crawling back to the bridegroom for peace for protection for deliverance and for salvation but seemingly as soon as she gets what she wants from him she pines after other lovers slips back into the attire of her harlotry and offers herself up to every godless jack that passes her by that's the way that she's acting right it's an enslaving pattern an enslaving pattern that's no different for many today many who profess to be followers of jesus christ they profess them to the lord and yet they seek refuge from responsibility or accountability from serving him they seek refuge in their games they seek refuge in pornography they seek refuge in their leisure and their pleasure and money the ease that god has given them they abuse all the goodness of god on their own lusts and god says cry out to the gods that you've raised up for yourself that you've chosen for yourself i'll not deliver you it's terrifying it's terrifying considering that we as christians right when we go back to the lord over and over and over again for the same sin am i the only one who's experienced that in their christian life we go back to the lord to ask forgiveness again go to the lord to ask for forgiveness again our lord is a consuming fire he who sins willfully after receiving knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins there's simply remaining a certain terrifying awaiting judgment in the hands of god it's terrifying but we have to understand the difference between the child of god who knows god as father and the brazen adulterer who prostitutes himself out in rejection of lord right the brazen harlot loves the deliverance of god the promise of peace the promise of hope the good feeling that comes with forgiveness and with all that religious those religious trappings right loves what the bridegroom can do for her loves the benefits of the bridegroom wants to be in heaven why wouldn't we want to be in heaven why wouldn't we want to avoid hell but the brazen harlot loves not the bridegroom you see the difference between the two right it's a different relationship she goes back to the trough time and time and time again but in doing so with no love for the bridegroom not a changed heart not a changed mind not a sorrow over sin not a deep hunger and thirst for righteousness not a deep longing to be holy as he is holy not a deep longing in their heart to be devoted and love to the bridegroom for all he's done for us she goes back to the trough time and time again treating the blood by which she presumes that she is sanctified a common thing it's an insult to the spirit of grace the bible says she wants the benefits of the bridegroom she doesn't want the bridegroom eventually the lord says to that brazen harlot enough is enough enough is enough enough is enough i'll deliver you no longer right that day comes for every brazen harlot every one of them will eventually hear those words depart for me i never knew you you worker of iniquity get away from me i don't know you you worker of iniquity if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful expectation of judgment fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries we need a heart change israel needs a heart change they need an inward transformation they need a love and a devotion to the bridegroom have their own sinful will their own sinful inclinations their sinful indulgences their sinful depravity put down they have their heart change right to see the bridegroom as precious to see the bridegroom as the treasure that he is so that they beneficiaries of his goodness beneficiaries of his deliverance beneficiaries of all his blessings love him above all love him as supreme as supreme when we have him as our bridegroom and that way and that relationship god is our heavenly father who chasens us as sons and really what good father doesn't chase chasen the sons whom he loves the daughters whom he loves well israel is concerned about the state that she's in so in verse 15 children of israel said to the lord we've sinned we've sinned due to us whatever seems best to you only deliver us this day we pray really what kind of what kind of prayer is that do whatever seems best to you but not that don't do whatever seems best to you deliver us and then do whatever seems best to you and don't wait do it today we pray so then verse 16 they put away the foreign gods from among them and they serve the lord his soul could no longer endure the misery of israel we've considered the goodness and the severity of god but notice with respect to verses 15 and 16 notice the character of his goodness his soul could no longer endure the misery of israel i think with me most would say we might even be tempted to think that god was moved to compassion because of their repentance this looks like genuine repentance god was moved to compassion because they cried out to him and listen they really meant it they really meant it because they put away those foreign gods and they served him they really meant it this time they're really sorrowful they're really sorry and because of their repentance god wanted their repentance after all they got serious the lord saw that they were sincere that's that catch phrase today isn't it they really meant it they really meant it they reached the repentance benchmark they reached some imaginary line where their earnestness gets to a level that now god can't help but to do what they're asking him to do they reached the repentance benchmark his heart was soft and they earned it they earned it do you really think that that you can manipulate god in that way no god is not manipulated by that notice here the lord's compassion his goodness is it tied to what israel is saying or doing what exactly is his compassion or his goodness tied to the lord is moved to compassion by what by her misery israel israel is the apple of his eye and here just deplorably sinful but remains the apple of his eye deplorably wicked but this is the covenant people of god his covenant people repentance is commanded right so let's don't make make no mistake about that god's overlooked these times of ignorance now commands every man everywhere to repent paul explains in second corinthians chapter seven verse 10 a true repentance is produced by godly sorrow or godward sorrow over sin not worldly misery over how bad our circumstances are how many times i've been jilted by the more mongering men that i'm following after right how unhappy we are but godward sorrow over sin for how undeserving we are for having offended god and that godly sorrow that godward sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation the worldly sorrow of the brazen harlot only leads to death the brazen harlot is only capable of worldly sorrow she doesn't care about the bridegroom but although repentance is a condition of saving faith and it is if faith is saving it will be a repentant faith but it is not the material cause of favor with god you don't earn favor with god through your repentance you don't earn the kindness of god through your repentance you don't earn the compassion of god through your repentance this is something that oh it's good for us to think about in our own christian lives you don't earn his favor earn his grace through some degree of repentance that you're striving toward or hoping to attain to maybe i just don't feel bad enough i wish i could feel worse maybe then i'd have security that god looks on me with favor that god looks on me with grace our hope is not found in the sincerity or earnestness or degree or level of our repentance or of some decision that we make to follow the lord our hope is not in the degree to which we turn in godward sorrow am i miserable enough to earn it our hope is found in the grace and mercy and compassion of god who loves his people in the lord jesus christ grieves over their misery and delights to show them mercy we have our hope in the one who delights to show his people mercy so what should we do we should repent of our sin and trust him alone he delights to show his people mercy he delights to show them favor grace he delights to love them care for them we can't put ourselves back under the condemnation of the law thinking that it's some ritualistic service that we perform that earns us better standing or more right standing with god we trust him turn to him love devotion and he is the one who is rich in grace and abounding in mercy we trust him that he'll be merciful to us sinners we turn from our sin and trust ourselves to him well the lord has final words to the brazen harlot of ezekiel 16 the lord says this in verse 60 he says nevertheless nevertheless that nevertheless is loaded because there's a lot that came before the nevertheless right we've heard some of that tonight for all that she has done nevertheless god says i will remember my covenant with you he is a faithful bridegroom i will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth and i will establish an everlasting covenant with you then you will remember your ways and be ashamed as a part of that new covenant god takes out our heart of stone he gives us a heart of flesh he puts a new spirit within us causes us to walk in his statutes and judgments he says i don't do this for your sake house of israel but for my holy name's sake and he says be confounded be ashamed for your ways oh israel will be ashamed right when the lord does that work in our heart you'll remember your ways and be ashamed he says i will establish my covenant with you then you shall know that i am the lord that you may remember and be ashamed never open your mouth anymore because of your shame when i provide you an atonement for all you have done says the lord that sounds like an actual atonement doesn't he provides an atonement for the possibility that you might one day turn and come no it's an actual atonement for all you have done says the lord god all of grace all provided in the person and work of the lord jesus christ the turn from your sin said all your hope in him all your hope in him be saved from the wrath of god for those in the lord jesus christ mercy triumphs over judgment always for those in the lord jesus christ mercy triumphs over judgment let's pray father in heaven we are so grateful to you that you are merciful and compassionate and gracious and loving kind and good in christ jesus our lord there's such a great goodness that you pour out on all people but that your steadfast love your covenant goodness to those who have put their faith and trust in lord jesus christ is staggering or considering our sinfulness considering lord how we have rebelled against you how adulterous we've been as friends of this world that we praise you lord that you have chosen to set your love on us in christ praise you we praise you lord that you have changed our hearts changed our minds you have seated us in heavenly places you've given us the mind of christ for takers of the divine nature and you have caused us lord to see our sin for the grievous offense that it is and caused us to see the person and work of our savior is the treasure that he is help us lord to always keep our eyes on you in faith and protect us lord from departing from the one we love protect us from wandering and departing the living god help us to hold fast to you in faith for your glory for our eternal good we pray these things in jesus name amen