Promises for Repentance

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day, you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee. We get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2023, Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis to Leviticus. Genesis to Leviticus. Through Leviticus. Through Leviticus, that's right.
Good job with your prepositions. There's a difference between getting to something and getting through something. Man, you're good. Good grammar. Alright, why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray and get into God's Word. I don't know why it does that. I gotta figure out how to fix that. Okay, let's go ahead and pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this day. We pray that you would please help us to understand your word. We pray that you would please apply it to our hearts and to our lives in Jesus' name. Amen.
Alright, so Leviticus chapter 26 beginning at verse 40. and that I also have walked contrary to them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies. If their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham, I will remember. I will remember the land. The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. they will accept their guilt, because they despised my judgments, and because their souls abhorred my statutes. Yet, for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor will I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break my covenant with them, for I am Yahweh their God.
But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I have brought out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am Jehovah." These are the statutes and the judgments and the laws which the Lord made between himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. Alright, so in the first part, God in this covenant, he said, I am the Lord, you are my people, I redeemed you.
And if you follow my statutes, if you keep my ordinances, what's going to happen? I'll keep my covenant with you. Okay, well he's going to keep his covenant no matter what. But if they follow in God's ways, remember the first part of this, we talked about this a few days ago. This is verses 3-13. What would he do if they kept the covenant? Do you remember some of the things he would do for them?
He would make sure they had food. Good. Food. Food. Um... They would win over their enemies. Okay, they would win over their enemies. Good. They would have babies. They would be fertile. They would have babies. Good, right? So there's all sorts of blessings. Right, Deborah? all sorts of blessings if they do this. But, if they don't, then do you remember yesterday, Deborah? What would happen? Um, a lot of bad stuff. A lot of bad stuff.
Did God remember these things? Yep. Yeah. And so now we come to the concluding passage where he says, but if they acknowledge their sins, If they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with the unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me, and that they also have walked contrary to me, and that I have walked contrary to them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies, then what's he gonna do?
Is he gonna forget them and say, get away from me? It's not one strike, you're out. It's not one strike, you're out. Well, they've had multiple strikes. He's kicked them out of the land, but while they're in the land of their enemies, and the land is receiving its rest, is the Lord going to forget them? No. What would he do? If they had humbled themselves and let them go. He would let them return, that's right.
So verse 42 is very important. I have verse 42 underlined. Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham. I will remember, I will remember the land. Right, so he remembers the covenant he made with their ancestors. He says, I'm gonna remember my covenant that I made to your forefathers, right? He says He's going to accept their guilt. Yet, when they're in verse 44, they're going to be in the land of their enemies. He's not going to cast them away or abhor them.
What do you think it means to abhor someone, Debra? Forget. What's worse than forget? Like, get away. Like, stop. Don't let them get near me. Don't let it come near me. I don't even want to see it. That's right. That's right. Yeah, so abhor is like utterly detest, right? To utterly destroy them and to break my covenant with them. Why? Why won't the Lord do this? Verse 44. What's the very end of verse 44? Why won't God break His covenant? Because He's their God. Remember?
Isn't this what we were just talking about in the first commandment? Right, what is required in the first commandment? The first commandment requires us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God and our God. Right, so we want to know that He's our God. Why? Because He's a covenant keeping God. He says, I am the Lord their God. And then He promises them also that He's going to remember His covenant. He's going to remember that He redeemed them out of Egypt to be their God. And then He says, I am the Lord. I am Yod-Heh-Bav-Heh-Yahweh or Yehovah. He's the Lord. What do you guys think? Is this good news or bad news? Good news. Good news. So He did kick them out of the land. Right, they went into exile. What country did they go into exile? Babylon. Right, the southern people went to Babylon. But did they ever come back? No. When did they come back? Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah. And do you guys remember what we just read recently in Ezra and Nehemiah? Do you remember Nehemiah's prayer?
Sort of. Sort of. He made this confession. He said, we have sinned and our fathers have sinned against you. Nehemiah, I think, knew this passage. And so he confesses it to God. He says, we're guilty and our fathers were guilty. So remember your covenant. And did God remember his covenant? Yeah. How do we know that God remembered his covenant? He helped them. He helped them. So did God forget his covenant after that? Nope. No? What's the best part of the covenant?
It goes on and on. It goes on and on. But he won't break it. He's not an unjust God. That's right. He's not an unjust God. He's never going to break his covenant. So how does that give you courage or help, Debra? Because he'll help us. He'll help us. He'll help us in our times of need, right? Is he ever going to forsake us? Is He ever going to leave us? No. Is He ever going to let somebody snatch us out of Jesus' hands? No. Has Jesus prayed for us?
Yeah. Yeah. Jesus prayed to the Father in John chapter 17 that we would be protected from the evil one. And so we're able to pray that same prayer. And we're able to know that God, because He is our God, and He has sent us His Son, and we believe in Him, that he'll remember his covenant with Jesus, too, and his covenant with us. Okay, you guys ready to pray? Okay.
Lord, we thank you so much for this day. Father, we pray that you would please let us walk, knowing that you are the covenant-keeping God, that you have loved us and cared for us. In Jesus' name, amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the confidence that comes from knowing that your God does not forget his covenant. and that he has made promises, and if he has said it, he'll make it good. We'll see you next time. You guys wanna say bye? Bye! Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.