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Grace City Church Nehemiah (Part 11) – The Pros & Cons of a Commitment to Change Adam James – December 6, 2015 Nehemiah 9:38; Nehemiah 10 I'm Adam, one of the pastors here at Grace City Church. I'm really glad to be here with you this morning. I'm glad you're here. You're the ones who are either DVRing the Hawks or don't care. Either way, you're here because I feel like you're hungry learners leaning in, ready to worship Jesus and not one another. That's what I'm thinking. After that, I'm feeling good. This sermon is going to sound awesome to you now. This is going to be great. It's going to be good. Actually, it was funny. We got the text this morning from Pastor Josh. He's up there in Leavenworth right now. Of course, they're in the process of building their house, so in the meantime, they're back in the basement of Mom and Dad, which is fun as well. We get to talk about that as well. Carey moved out so Josh could move back in. It's great. I love it. There are so many good things to give each other a good hard time about. They have like 24 inches or something in Leavenworth or whatever. I don't know. Snow is just coming down. He was texting last night. He didn't have to prepare a sermon. This is a couple weeks break for Pastor Josh. He's loving it. He's out playing in the snow with his kids and cutting down Christmas trees and the lights. This morning, he's plowing and trying to dig out. They lost power, lost water. The pump isn't turning on. He's like, "I'm saving the house so the pipes don't freeze. I might make it down by second service, but if I don't, is it okay if I stay and save the house?" We're like, "Yeah, you can stay and Grace City Church

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do what you have to do." He's having a great morning, and we're really glad he can get a break, and just rest up, free up his mind. It's hard. He has been doing a great job this fall. Gear up for the new year. Of course, he'll be with us next Sunday. It's going to be good. You're not going to want to miss it. It's going to be awesome. Let's jump in. We have some place to go this morning here in God's Word. If you have a Bible, why don't you turn to Nehemiah 10. Actually, we're going to go to the last verse of chapter 9, Nehemiah 9:38, which is actually the first verse of this section. The way it's divided up in your Bible is a little different than when it's in Hebrew apparently, not that I read or write Hebrew, but I can find my way around a commentary. We're going to start in chapter 9, verse 38 there. Let me pray for us this morning, and then we'll dive in. Let's pray together and ask the Lord to talk to us this morning through his Word and his Spirit. Father, we come, and we thank you for this time to gather this morning, Lord, as we're moving into this season of Christmas. Lord, as we're hopefully preparing our hearts for what you want to do in our lives in this time of the year, Lord, I pray this morning that you would be with us, that you would use your Word and use my words in our lives to encourage us, to give us hope, to move us forward, Lord, to meet us where we are. For many people, December is not an enjoyable time. Christmas season is not fun. It's something to be endured, not to be enjoyed. Lord, there are a lot of people who are reminded of the brokenness of relationships, of failures of the past year. Lord, we pray that the good news of the gospel this morning would be heard loud and clear in our hearts, and we would once again, with new eyes, see your love for us, your mercy for us, and help us to see the good news in this text, and the good news in Christmas, Lord.

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Equip us, Father, as a people to be sensitive to those around us this time of year that we might be able to be a blessing and encouragement, loving, your light to shine through us in this time of year. We ask this for his sake, amen. The title of my message this morning is The Pros & Cons of a Commitment to Change. It's kind of different, but we're pulling it right out of God's Word here this morning. If you're just joining us or haven't been with us recently, I'm going to catch you up super quickly. We're in a study of the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. It's coming near the end of the story of the people of Israel before the New Testament comes, and the people had been carried away into exile in Babylon. It actually was a form of discipline or judgment from God. Because of their sin and rebellion to the Lord, he sent them into exile. Now they begin to come back. They've been released from captivity, but the city of Jerusalem is in ruins, so they've been rebuilding the wall. Nehemiah led the charge to rebuild the wall in this effort now to renew the people of God. The wall was rebuilt in 52 days. In 52 days, they did the work of rebuilding the wall. It's an incredible, incredible story. We've been learning a lot from this book and this letter about leadership and how to do great things, and how the Lord blesses and leads in that process. There has been an emphasis in the first part of the book on preparing a place for the people, but then it shifts right around chapter 7 where we were last week and then through the end of the book to really preparing the people for the place from preparing a place for the people, from restoring the wall to restoring the worship of their hearts. Last week, if you were with us, I was up here in Nehemiah 7, and Nehemiah was calling for a census, reminding the people from the surrounding towns and villages around Jerusalem, those who had been brought back in the initial wave of captives who had come back to Judea and Israel, that area, he was kind of taking a census of, "Who is here? How did we get here?"

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Eventually, the goal, the plan is to repopulate the city of Jerusalem and, again, for the people of Israel to be restored as the people of God, to worship God, to be his display people, to show the nations and other people what God is really like, and they weren't that at this time. They had seriously hardcore driven it into the ditch yet again. It's kind of their pattern, kind of their MO, at least in the Old Testament. That's the story of the people of Israel. They continually rebel and turn away, and God continually shows mercy and is faithful and brings them back. We find ourselves here where they need to restore their worship. We're going to skip over chapters 8 and 9, but don't worry. We're not skipping them altogether. You have to come back in January. We're going to actually jump back in and grab chapters 8 and 9 in the new year because what happens is, at the beginning of chapter 8, Ezra steps on the scene. Everybody say, "Ezra." He's another dude in the Bible. Actually, the book in the Bible in front of Nehemiah is called Ezra. Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries. They were around the same time. Nehemiah was the governor. He was a leader. Ezra was like the pastor, the scholar, teacher. Nehemiah the leader, Ezra the teacher. In chapter 8, the people gather. They're seeing the picture now that, "Whoa! The wall has been done, and God is bringing us back." Their hearts are beginning to be awakened, softened to the reality of their spiritual condition and just how far they've drifted. They gather again to hear from the Word of God. It's an all-day thing that happens at the beginning of chapter 8. They gather at the water gate. All the people show up. Ezra is there, and he pulls out the law of the Lord, the book of God, and all day long, he reads the law. We're talking about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, in one setting. You think we preach long sermons here. He reads the entire book of the law. We're talking men, women, children. They come back later, and the women and children don't come back. We all know why. The moms had to put the kids down for the naps and said, "We're not doing that again." The dads come and hear the second go around. This would be like a sixhour affair. All day, they're hearing the Word of the Lord. Grace City Church

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God begins to move in their hearts. They begin to respond to his Word. As they're hearing the Word of God, the law being read to them, they begin to weep. They begin to recognize, and they realize how far they drifted. God is softening their hearts. That's where they're like, "Rejoice." There is this joy here. There is this solemn and this whole crazy spiritual retreat going on, this renewal episode that is happening here. The people of Israel renew the feasts that the Lord wanted them to remember and practice, the Feast of Booths, where they would, for a whole week, live in tents. It was to remind them of how God provided for them and cared for them when he brought them out of Egypt and how they moved around in the desert in tents. For a whole week. You know how they had the nightin-the-box thing? It was a week-in-the-box thing, a week in the tent. They're out there living to be reminded of it. They're being restored. They're being renewed. Then they come back a few weeks later. In chapter 9, they pray this prayer, and it's filled with confession. It's the longest recorded prayer in the entire Bible, chapter 9. The emphasis on the Word and prayer in chapters 8 and 9 we're going to pick up again in the new year, but they get to the end of that, and it's also the longest recounting of the Old Testament history in the Old Testament. That's chapter 9. That's just to whet your appetite a little bit for some things to look forward to at the beginning of the new year that we're going to dip into. They come to the end of this time where they've gathered. It's like a rededication of the people of Israel to the Lord. It's like a recommitment ceremony or service. We pick it up in verse 38 of chapter 9. They come to the end and say this. "Because of all this…" What I just explained to you, all they're reminded of, how far they've drifted, their confession, their prayer, their desire for the Lord to get them out of the distress they're in. "Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests."

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Then look at verse 1 of chapter 10. "On the seals are the names of Nehemiah the governor…" On down it goes through all the names of the leaders who are signing this covenant. What is happening here is on the heels of this entire month… Actually, it was right around the end of the year, this time of the year, around the new year. It was a reflective time. They're having this renewal go on. A month of vigorous, spiritual, deep, soul-searching, heart-wrenching seeking of God, renewal. They want to capture, so to speak, the momentum and seal what has been done by reaffirming in writing a covenant and an oath with the Lord. This is Israel's recommitment. That's where we are now in chapter 10. In other words, this is an Old Testament altar call type moment we're in here. Now, I say that, and I want to be really frank. This chapter is a little bit of a mixed bag for me. I think you'll see why. Hence the title of my message, The Pros & Cons of a Commitment to Change. Let's be honest. How many of us have had positive, helpful, maybe even powerful moments at an altar call or retreat-type thing where you raise your hand and responded? Some pastor or preacher is preaching. "Come on down forward. Let's do business with God." How many of you have had an encounter with a positive, helpful experience? It's all right. Come on. Hands up. My hand is up. I've been there. Regardless of what tradition in Christianity you come from where you're raised in, some utilize an altar call more than others. Some are proaltar call. Some are anti-altar call. They have their theological reasons as to why. Regardless of which kind of tradition you come from or non-tradition you come from… By the way, if you are here and don't have any church background, in some ways, you're blessed. Let me just be honest with you. Right? Come on. We can poke fun at ourselves. The church can be weird. Okay? Watch this. Let me ask you another question. How many of us have had negative, unhelpful, or discouraging or weird moments at an altar-call type thing? Raise your hand. Anybody there? We have a few, a few others. Yeah. I've been there as well.

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Sometimes it's like, "Man, it was great. It was a high. It was a spiritual high." Then soon after, you find yourself right back to the same sin, the same stuff, and you're discouraged and defeated, and you're like, "What was all that? Did it stick?" You know? Has anybody been there? That commitment. What's happening here in a sense… I know I'm kind of caveating this a little bit negative. I'm going to turn it positive in a moment. For the people of Israel, what is happening here is this is Saturday night at the youth retreat. This is time to seal the deal, or the following morning after this mountaintop spiritual experience. "Write down what you're going to do from this day forward." "I mean it this time, God. I'm going to follow you forever. I'm never going to sin ever again." The recommitment of the recommitment of the recommitment. Now, forgive my cynicism for a moment because don't forget where we are. We're still in the Old Testament. If we're honest and look at the story of God, the Old Testament is a bit of a sad book actually. I mean, this old covenant relationship of God and Israel is broken. It's insufficient, and the people knew it. They knew it because they're longing for the day. That's why the prophets would come give the message, "The day of the Lord that will come when God will come." There is this promise of a new covenant that is going to come. "I'll take out your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I'll give you my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways. Up until now, you haven't been able to do it." It's broken and insufficient. The people knew the blood of bulls and goats is not going to cut it. That's why they were awaiting Jesus. Actually, after Jesus came, it was the Spirit that was what they were waiting for, the Spirit to be poured out, the Spirit to be given, that New covenant promise, so that the hearts of the people could actually be changed in a lasting way. We're in the Old Testament, but having said that, I think there are some incredible, commendable aspects and true aspects of what is happening here that we need to take and learn from ourselves. Let me walk through some of these with us. These are the pros. These are Grace City Church

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the commendable aspects of what we see happening in the text here with the people of Israel in their lives. I'm going to bring some of this to us because we need it today as well. 1. Conviction should lead to commitment. Have some holy resolve. Conviction should lead to commitment. That's what we see happening here in the text. If you look at verse 28… Let's pick it up again in verse 28 and read for a bit here of Nehemiah 10. "The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes." Look at verse 30. "We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God…" Do you see what they're doing here? You look down in verse 34. "We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots for the wood offering…" Someone needs to take responsibility for the changes that need to get made in the people of God, and they begin to list these areas where we need to make a new commitment to walk in ways that are pleasing to the Lord. There is this issue of marriage. There is this issue of the Sabbath. There is this issue of taking care of the sacrifices, the offerings, the temple, and the priests, and their food, and the wood. Grace City Church

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Someone has to go get the wood for the sacrifice and make the fire for the sacrifice. Who is going to own up to this stuff and take responsibility? We need some commitment to make changes in these areas where we've clearly seen, according to the law of God, according to the Word of God, where we are not in line with what God wants for us, we need to make some changes. The rest of this chapter is, "We will. We will not. We obligate ourselves." Look at verse 35. "We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree…" All the way down you go, through all of the different aspects they're pointing out of where they've come to see they're off track. Verse 39, the last verse: "For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers." Last sentence. Check it out. "We will not neglect the house of our God." Up until this point, that's exactly what they had been doing. That's exactly what got them in the mess in the first place. They neglected, and they're seeing it now. They're coming awake to it. Conviction should lead to commitment. Let me say it this way. The Bible knows nothing… The Old Testament and New Testament know nothing of commitment-less Christianity. Many in this room have decided to follow Jesus, but we could press down even further on the essence of that decision, of that commitment, of that resolve. I would ask, "In what way have you decided to follow Jesus?" "I have decided to follow Jesus when I need him to bail me out. I have decided to follow Jesus on Sundays. I have decided to follow Jesus about 45 percent." We can move into (we'll get there a little bit later at the end of this message) the anatomy of a commitment. There are some different aspects to it. Think through how you reached that point of resolve or decision in your relationship with Christ. Some of you may be in that process of

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even checking it out and considering, in the process of thinking and deciding. At what point did resolve, did commitment, did decision kind of grip your heart? There are undeniably breakthrough moments and points in our journey in faith with the Lord, points where we drive a stake in the ground. It is that way even in the Christian faith in various issues, as you learn about them, as you study God's Word. I think back over the series we have done here at GCC. Every new series we do… Parenting and then money. All of these different issues we hit on from the Word of God, we bring teaching and passion and conviction from God's Word. Then what do we do? We drive stakes in the ground on those issues. "From this day forward, God, I want to parent in a way that glorifies you and is good. From this day forward, Lord, in my marriage, I want to be the…" We drive stakes in the ground. "Lord, when it comes to money, I want to be a steward. I want to honor you. I want to give to you. I want to do these things because I'm bringing my life into line with your Word. As your Spirit convicts me, Lord, I want to commit." That's a good thing, isn't it? That's a very good thing. One thing we could never suffer an overabundance of is rugged, passionate, holy resolve. There are men in this room who need to resolve some things and drive a stake in the ground, commit, declare. It's the Joshua moment. "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." You drive a stake in the center of your living room. You gather your children. You gather, and you say, "This family is going this way, not perfectly. I'm the first one to screw it up, but with God's help, with his mercy, I'm declaring my intention. Let's make some plans. Let's make some changes. I'm driving a stake in the ground. We're going this way. We're going for the Lord." We can never have an overabundance of that kind of holy, soul-gripping resolve. Commit. Declare. Resolve. All in. That's it. No more. "From this day forward, for the rest of my life," kind of deep, holy, passionate declaration.

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Approximately 300 years ago, 293 to be exact, right now, December, 1722, at the age of 18, a little known man by the name of Jonathan Edwards was beginning to pen what would become known as his 70 Resolutions for life. In December of 1722 to August of 1723, he wrote what became 70 life resolves, resolutions, stakes he was driving in the ground. He resolved to read over them every day. There are some amazing things. He went on to become only the most prolific theologian, scholar, pastor in North American history, leading the charge of the first Great Awakening in northeast Massachusetts. He had some struggle and turmoil throughout his ministry and his life, his career, but just before he died, he had become the president of The College of New Jersey, otherwise known as Princeton. There are many of his books and writings and influences that are still influencing revival in the church and renewal in many ways. He wrote these resolves at the age of 18. Let me read you a few of them. Number 5: "Resolved: Never to lose one moment of time but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can." Number 22: "Resolved: To endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can…" Now listen to the language he uses. "…with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of or can bring myself to exert in any way that can be thought of." Number 41: "Resolved: To ask myself at the end of every day, week, month, and year wherein I possibly could in any respect have done better." He's a pretty intense dude. He began writing these, "Resolved: To do all I can, to live for the glory of God with all of my might all of my days, and to live in such a way as if I could see how I wanted to live on the day I die, to live that way every day until then." Things like that. Resolves. I love it when we sing the song, "I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back." Do you know that? Whenever we sing that song, and it gets to that phrase, something in me, when we sing, "No turning back. No turning back," there is something in me. My heart just twinges. I stand here. We sing that song, and everything inside of me just screams, "Yes. That's my prayer. That's my desire. Lord, no turning back." Grace City Church

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I don't want to go back to the captivity of sin and slavery I was in when God said, "No, I don't want to go back. No, Lord, you've bought me with a price. You've captured my life. You're far better than anything and everything else I used to fool around with. God, you are far better in every way. No turning back, all on the line, all in. You're the one. Where else would I go?" It's that kind of a thing for me when I hear that. Now, I recognize there are different types of personalities and different types of testimonies. For me, this is how God has wired me, how God got a hold of my life. I can quickly, on the spot, right now, remember the darkness. I can remember the struggle. I can remember the slavery. I can remember the guilt. I literally, as I was preparing for this, thinking about it, can feel on my face the hot tears of conviction that rolled down my cheek as I laid my head on the pillow at night when the Spirit of God was coming upon my life, hot tears of conviction. Literally wrestling with the pressure of the conviction of the Spirit of God laying claim to my life. My wife has a different story. I remember one time we were talking. I've asked her this because I'm one of those guys. It's like, "April 22, 1997. It was 9:00 p.m. It was a Tuesday night. I can tell you where I was." That's me. That's not everybody. I get that. In fact, I prefer my wife's story. It goes something like this. I remember we were having a conversation, and Erin said, "The closest I can get to a moment, if I had to say, 'Where was the moment when I understood the gospel or knew I was different,' I remember I was swinging in the backyard as a little girl, and it dawned on me that God loved me and I loved God and that Jesus was with me, and I knew what he had done for me on the cross." That's the story I want for my girls. I promise that's the story. A little girl swinging on a swing suddenly realizes Jesus is swinging with her. Isn't that a great testimony? By the way, the same sin that was in her heart was in my Grace City Church

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heart. Mine just got full blown. We both needed a Savior. Either way, I'll say it this way. Every Christian needs to have some soul-gripping resolves. Some of you need to start working on your list of resolves today, this week, this month. Maybe you've written some things down before. You need to review those. Get out a journal. Start journaling. Review your old journals. I have about 15 or 16 journals, almost one for every year I've walked with Christ. It's getting closer now where I do about two years in a journal. It's musings. It's prayers. It's resolves. Every time I start a new journal, I write essentially what is a fresh new expression of my resolve at the beginning of that journal, and it's marking, "Lord, this is my declaration, this is who I am, this is the way I'm going. It's because of you and your grace. That's who you are. God, help me. I can't do it on my own." Question. I knew I was going to spend the most time on this point. We're going to fly through. Don't worry. Where do you need to drive a stake in the ground? What sin do you need to resolve to put to death? What is one commitment you need to write down right now before you leave? You take an extra two minutes. You sit in the car in the parking lot. Get the heat going. "Lord, what are you calling me to resolve?" Conviction should lead to commitment. Have some holy resolves. 2. Commitments should be put in writing. Make it specific. This is a super practical point that we're going to move by super quick, but don't miss it. It's there in the text, right? They're writing it down, from good intentions to actual plans. Writing it down doesn't mean it's going to happen, but it helps to clarify and solidify our commitment. Make it concrete. Right? There's a difference between saying, "I want to be a better husband," and, "I will devote 60 minutes each evening I'm home to connect relationally with my wife." There's a difference. Whatever that is, a date night every week or month. It's concrete. It's measurable. It's specific. "I want to be a better father." Right? That's great, but move out of the realm of generic to Grace City Church

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specific. What is one action, one step you could take? Write it down. Every good leader, every successful person I've ever met does this. What three things do you need to start doing in 2016? What three things do you need to stop doing in 2016? Think it through. Wrestle it over. Look at your life. Step back. Look at all of the different areas of your life, financially, in your home, in your work, in your marriage, with your parenting life. Look at all of the different facets of your life and ask the question about each area. That's why SMART goals are a good thing. Make it specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound. We write important things down. We sign important things. When you sign something, there is that moment right before you sign it where it's like, "Okay, what am I signing here? Am I sure? Are we sure? Once we sign it, it's official." Right? House papers, land papers, marriage covenant license, buying a car, even at a restaurant, signing the receipt. "How much am I on the hook for? Is that right? Wait, I didn't order that. Oh, wait, you didn't have…" You know? "If I sign this thing, I'm on the hook." We have a signed member covenant here at the church. It's like, "I'm in. I'm signing. I'm committed. I'm declaring. Yeah, I'm a part. I'm going to lean in. I'm a part. Here we go." Real simple and practical. Commitments should be put in writing. Make them specific. 3. Leaders should go first and lead by example and take responsibility. Again, what you see in the text here… I'm not going to spend much time on it. Notice Nehemiah is leading the way. They're signing it. They're sealing it. They're going first, putting their names on the line. Leaders put their names on the line. We had a lot of those moments even in the planning of Grace City Church. "Are you in? Are we in?" We sat around Uncle Ray's dining room table when we were signing the incorporation papers. There were four of us there. We were getting ready. We were signing this thing off. "Is my name going to go on this thing?" It was one of those moments. Leaders go first and lead by Grace City Church

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example. They take responsibility. You can't lead anybody else where you yourself haven't gone first. That's what we see Nehemiah and the people doing here, and that's a commendable thing. 4. God's people should live according to the Word of God. See, that's what is shaping this entire episode here in Scripture. They've heard the Word. They've read the Word. Now they're seeking to make these changes in those areas of their lives to come and into line with the Word of God and the will of God for their lives. God's people should live according to the Word of God. You notice in verse 28 the language that is used. It says, "…and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God…" See what's happening here? There had been this polluting of their identities and of their worship. They are God's people. They are to be marked by God and his Word and his will. Their lives as ours are to be defined by the Word of God, to be separated from the world to the Word. There is a difference that takes place when I'm living my life for the Lord versus when I'm living my life for myself or… Fill in the blank. Again, as I said last week, God is not only committed to getting us home but to making us holy. God's people are called to be pure and holy, set apart according to what we see, hear, read, understand in the Word of God. The reality is the people were not living in accordance with Scripture, with God's law, in many areas of lives, and all of these issues that were fleshed out there in chapter 10 were dramatically impacting their worship of God, their witness about him, their priorities and values in life, and the trajectory of the course of their future and future generations. We often say around here, "There are people waiting on the other side of your obedience." There are also people waiting on the other side of your disobedience. There are consequences. The life we live and the way we follow God, the way we follow Christ, the way we worship God is going to set a trajectory for those who are following us. Grace City Church

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There was this issue of inter-marrying with the other peoples, this marriage issue. It wasn't a race issue; it was a religion issue. It was like, "Look. You're displaying by the choices you're making and the life you're living that who you are, your worship of me, your prioritizing me, your valuing me, your putting me first is no longer important to you, so much so that you're willing to compromise in these areas and dilute who you are and who you say I am. It's getting diluted. You're valuing work and money. You're not resting. You're not taking a break. You're not following a Sabbath principle, the pattern set forth by God and for our good and creation, of work and rest." Let me give you a quick illustration. Imagine an old, dirty, cracked ceramic bowl. It's one of those where you can kind of see the hairline fractures, one of those where you look at it and go, "Oh, should I pick that up, or is it going to break as soon as I pick it up?" Imagine that inside of it is the residue of old moldy spaghetti. I'm talking to all of the college students now because you know what that's all about. You left it out on the counter. You left it in the fridge. It has been there for weeks. It is growing a science experiment. You're doing science now in your house in the bowl you left on the counter. Imagine this cracked ceramic bowl with this moldy… I'm talking chunks of meat with hairy stuff. Yeah, I'll go there. I'm talking noodles with tomato chunks crusted to it. Right? We're talking… That mold can get different colors. You know what I mean? Hairy. You come along, and you pick up that bowl. You pour yourself a nice big bowl of… Think of your favorite cereal. Put your favorite cereal in there. Milk. Pour that in there. Yeah. Stir that around. Stir that up. Looking at that. What happens? Suddenly, what you just put in gets mixed with what was already in there, and the weight now of the food and the liquid puts pressure on those cracks, and eventually, you go to pick up that bowl, and you bring it over and take a bite of that, and it breaks, and you get this gross, sloppy, cereal, spaghetti, moldy stew all over yourself. Is that vivid enough for us? That's Israel. That's what's happening. Grace City Church

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Their worship of God and their witness about him in the world is polluted. The cracks in their lives… It's diluted. It's making a mess, and it's just… What is going on? It's totally a mess. The reality is we could ask ourselves the questions. What are the cracks in your bowl? What needs to get cleaned out of your life? Where are you weak? Where are you compromised? Where are you diluted or polluted? Is there any glaring or even subtle area of compromise that you're neglecting? That's what the people of God are waking up to the reality that they had been doing. Now they're trying to pour all this good stuff in, but the reality is there is still this broken, polluted, mixed up thing that has to get cleaned out. 5. God's people should not neglect the worship of God. Again, that's that last sentence. "We will not neglect the house of our God." God's people should not neglect the worship of God. The most important thing about you… You were created by God for God. You were created in his image. You were created to know and love and enjoy and worship God. You are a billboard, and the name "Jesus" is what you were designed to have across your life on display to the universe. The heavens are declaring the glory of God, and you are the chief end of the creation, of God's created things, made in his image to glorify and honor God. You were made to worship God. Whenever we turn our worship away onto ourselves or our spouse or our children or money or sex or other things, we're cheating ourselves. We're lying about God. It's not a question of if we're worshipping but who or what, which direction our worship is aimed, what we're putting on the billboards of our lives. There is a sense in this text in which the people of God are coming and saying, "Lord, we want to take you seriously again. We want to worship God seriously." When I say that, I don't mean we're always serious people. I mean we worship God seriously. Consider what the greatest commandment is. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." Grace City Church

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God's people should not neglect the worship of God. Worship God seriously. Don't forget the reason Israel was in this mess in the first place was because of their neglect of God's Word and God's ways and their worship of God. They neglected the Lord. They rebelled, and they did their own thing. Consequently, God, in his mercy, disciplined them, judged them, and sent them into exile. The fact of the matter is they deserved to be in the distress they were in. I mentioned that in chapter 9 is the longest recounting of Old Testament history. It's a part of their prayer. No less than six massive, significant failings and rebellions do they recount where they rebelled, where they rebelled, where they rebelled. On every count, God was gracious, God was merciful, God was merciful, God was merciful. They actually deserved to be in the distress they were in, but God was once again prepared to show mercy. Notice the contrast in the Old Testament track record. Israel's history was one of repeated forgetfulness and failure on their part and repeated faithfulness and follow through on God's part. In many ways, that pattern is still going to continue even after yet another Old Testament altar call. It isn't until after Jesus comes and the new covenant is established that real deep and lasting change occurs in the people of God. In fact, it actually doesn't change when Jesus comes. What do they do with Jesus? Jesus shows up. "Yeah, he's here." Then they crucify him. "The light has come." It seems they love darkness more than light. "Get rid of this guy." It was when the Spirit of God came that they were born again, renewed, enabled to follow God. It's after Jesus died when the Spirit is given, and a newfound freedom to obey from the heart becomes a reality and the inheritance of every follower of Jesus. We talk about the cons. This is a warning concerning aspects of this commitment to change that we all in this room, every one of us needs to make. Would you agree with that? Every one of us in some way needs to make a

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commitment to change in some area of our lives. Let me just warn us and instruct us about this quickly. 1. A commitment to change is easy to make, but it's something else to keep. Why? Actions speak louder than words. It's one thing to profess faith in Christ, to make a promise, to make a commitment. It's another thing to be bearing the fruit of that decision, that promise, that commitment six months from now, a year from now, 10 years from now, 30 years from now. I love that you said those things on your wedding day. I love that you signed your wedding covenant and license. I love that. I can shed a tear with the best of them at a wedding, thinking about the power of covenant and promise and love and commitment. I love that you said that. Oh, you wrote your vows? Those are amazing. That was great. I love that you said those things. I love that you wrote those things down, but what I want to know is what are you doing now? How is it going now? I remember, as I was wrestling with this internal call that I was feeling, age 19 or 20, to give my life to preaching the gospel, serving the church, telling others about what Jesus had done in my life vocationally. I was looking to go to Bible college. That was a radical, out of nowhere thought for me. I was set to go on the course to do engineering, go to a four-year university, get a degree, make money, whatever. This was a, "What in the world am I even considering?" Put yourself in those shoes. "Hey, you're going to be a pastor. You're going to pursue ministry vocationally a year from now." Just put that on for a minute. That's just weird. It was just that weird for me to even consider going down that path, but I was so taken by what Jesus had done in my life that the freedom of forgiveness, the liberation, the burden had been lifted. I remember having a time of prayer with the Lord by myself in a dark sanctuary, and I was fighting it. I was wrestling. I didn't want to do it. The reason I didn't want to do it was because I didn't want to screw it up. I didn't want to blow it. I remember specifically, I said, "God, please Grace City Church

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teach me the toughest lessons first." That was my prayer. "Teach me the hard lessons early. Don't let me go 20, 30, 40 years down the road and then blow it. Don't give me early success if I'm not going to stay faithful to you for the long haul. Please, God. Don't let me do this if I'm going to screw this up." I can go right back to it right now. That became a little phrase. "Teach me the tough lessons early." Whenever I got into challenging situations or… I mean, I was not exactly the most coachable, correctable guy. I got into situations, and I began to respond to criticism and things. I was like, "Teach me the tough lessons early, Lord. Don't let me in my pride and in my foolishness think I'm something and go out there and do this thing for you, put Jesus' name on it, and then Satan has his hooks in me, and then pull the pin and blow the whole thing up and make Jesus look like an idiot. God, don't do that. I don't even want to start down that road." I remember thinking, "Lord, it's one thing to put egg on my face. It's something else altogether, Lord, to put egg on the face of Jesus. I don't want to go there." I didn't want to go there. I still don't want to go there. Pray for me. Pray for you. Pray for your pastors. Pray for each other. We don't want to go there. "It's one thing to put egg on my face, Lord, but it's something else altogether to put egg on Jesus' face. After all he's done for me, Lord, don't let me start down this road if I'm going to do something stupid and blow it for you." The people of Israel put egg on God's face time after time after time after time after time, and God was still merciful. The sad thing is less than three chapters after this, they're still blowing it. The Old Testament ends under this question: "Will it ever be different? Are we destined to rebellion in failure? Are we destined to this cycle of failure?" That leads to the second con. 2. A commitment to change can feel hopeless. Some of you know this. Some of you, people you know, people we will walk by every day this month, December is the time when this is screaming in their faces. The end of another year. "Another year, and everything has gone wrong, and everything I haven't done that I said I was going to do… I didn't drop those pounds, and I didn't do this, and I'm still not able to do that, and I've never done that. I'm going to come Grace City Church

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around to another year. Oh yeah. Yay, a new year. We're going to start over. Yeah, it's going to be better. Yeah, it's going to go great." Yeah, right... Has cynicism taken hold of you yet? Skepticism? Doubt? Anybody who has dealt with any kind of addiction in their lives knows this. "God, this is the last time, I promise. God, if you'll get me out of this mess, I promise I'll never… I promise, Lord, I'll always…" Then they always find themselves back down in the mud again, and the shame blanket comes over, and the despair blanket comes over. The Enemy is just sitting right there, and they're gloating, going, "That's right. You're a loser. This is who you are. You're never going to amount to anything. You're a piece of dirt. I can't believe you did that thing." On the front end, he's saying, "Hey, it's no big deal. Come on. Just a little bit won't hurt. It's no big deal. Hey, come on. Pollute a little. It will be diluted. You won't even tell the difference. It's not a biggie." Right after, he's like, "That was big. You blew it." Satan is a punk. He doesn't love you like God loves you. A commitment to change oftentimes very easily can feel hopeless. Friends, that why we need Christmas. That's why we need good news. That's why we need the gospel. 3. A commitment to change can quickly become man-centered. This is my last point, and then we'll bring it to a close. If you're looking to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, just dig a little deeper, try a little harder, cry a little louder, read a little more, bang pots, rain dance, "God, please help me, bless me," whatever you're trying to do to win God's approval. "Please, God." Just gut it out. "I'm just going to double down and just try. This is the year." If you're looking to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, the commitment is doomed and dumb. Either you'll achieve it and reinforce your deadly pride, or you'll continue to fail and fall into deadly despair. The emphasis on human commitment apart from the underlying message of God's stronger commitment and God's grace and God's power is really an exhausting, anti-

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gospel message of self-salvation. That's why self-help doesn't work. We need Jesus. We need the Spirit. We think about the anatomy of a commitment. Think about a tree and its fruit. There's the root of the commitment. There are its branches, and there is its fruit. If the root of our commitment is a reliance on man's effort, the branches may look healthy for a time, but inevitably, the fruit withers and dies. It does not remain and reproduce. If the root, however, is in fact God's power, his Spirit working within us, his grace enabling, then the branches may look meager at first, but inevitably, the fruit will emerge and last and increase. Is the root of your commitment your effort, relying on your strength, or is the root of your commitment God's grace and his keeping power? Here's the question. What makes the difference between a good, right, holy resolve and a puff of hopeless, man-exalting hot air? What makes the difference between a good, right, holy resolve that everyone in this room needs to make versus a puff of hopeless, exhausting, man-exalting hot air? The answer to that question is actually another question. Who or what is your hope for lasting change? Listen very carefully. This is the conclusion. The power of Christianity and what Christmas reveals is that our hope in salvation lies ultimately not in our commitment to God but God's commitment to us. Our hope is in the commitment of Jesus, the better Nehemiah, the better Israel, and in the power of the Spirit is the promise of the new covenant, not in the power or the strength or the will of the sinful man, of whom I am the chief. To say it another way, my hope for lasting change is not in my strength, ability, or will to gut it out but in God's love and strength and will to come and get me out. Christmas is a jailbreak. The heavy blanket of shame and despair and the repeated cycle of failure that is thrown in your face… God punches a hole in that and shines the light of his Son, and he comes in, and he breaks down in, and he says, "You're getting out of here because I'm coming to get you. You don't have to gut it out. I'm coming."

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God doesn't just throw a rope down through that hole and say, "Climb up if you can." He sends a basket. He scoops you up. He says, "You're mine. You belong to me. I have come for you. I'm here to save, and you need saving. You just throw back on the love of God, and you rest, and you say, "I can't climb out of this hole. Jesus, save me." He comes and scoops you up, and he saves you. He has come, and he's coming again. I have a picture of… You know the carnival? You go to a carnival. You know that hammer? You swing it and hit that target, and the light goes up the pole. God is not some disinterested, distant, disappointed monarch going, "Swing harder." We're just like, "Come on. Let's read more, do more, I'm going to get there. Just watch the little thing go up." "Yeah, you wimp. You're weak. Here's a little trinket toy for you. There you go. Come back again and try again. Get stronger. Maybe you'll be able to swing that hammer hard enough to get it all the way up and light the light bulb. Then I'll give you the big revival." Like it's some picture where we're so eager and God is so resistant. It's actually quite the other way around. God is so eager. He's saying, "Put the hammer down. I'm your Father. Guess what? I bought this place. Come on. Let me show you. All of those big stuffed animals you never thought you could get? They're all yours. This is now my kingdom. I have come. The dwelling place of God is with man, and you have an inheritance that will blow your mind." "I'm a good Father. I'll take care of you. You don't have to swing the hammer. You don't have to gut it out. I've come to get you because you're my kids. I want you around my table. I want to look at your faces this Christmas season and give you some gifts, remind you of my love. I have come. I've come to get you out of slavery, out of despair, out of loneliness, out of hopelessness, out of this cycle of failure. One day, I'll even get sin all the way out of you." Friends, that's the hope we have as we consider the coming of Jesus and a commitment to change.

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Father, we pray. I pray this morning, Father, that you would shine in the light of your grace and your mercy and your love in our hearts, Lord, and that you would remind us of the good news, of the hope we have that you have come to get us out. Lord, we don't have to save ourselves. We can't if we try. It's exhausting, Lord. Help us to lay down the hammer and just call out to you and rest in you and to find, at the bottom, at the root of our commitment, Lord, that we would have this resolve that, Lord, it's you. It's you who is keeping us, Lord. Our reliance, our trust would not be in the strength of our commitment, Lord, but our reliance would be in the strength of your commitment to us, your grace. You're stronger. Your love is greater. When we are faithless, you remain faithful. Father, when we feel like we can't hang onto you, you hang onto us. Help us in this place, Father, to embrace this truth, this hope. Prepare our hearts today, this week, this month, in this season to be reminded of how good you are and of the great love you have for us. That you would send your Son, that he would come to free us from the exhausting depression cycle of failure and that we could actually, by your grace, with your Spirit enabling us, make some holy resolves and actually make progress because it's your power working within us. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

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