Main idea: When God is not the center, outrageous passions will take flame and scorch lives.
I. Six warnings: When God is not the center...
II. One hope of deliverance
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Welcome everybody. My name is Dan, and I'm one of the pastors here. Now we're going to turn our attention to Genesis 34 please stand with me for the reading of God's Word. You know, we're committed to expository preaching through books of the Bible, and it brings us really interesting realities, like, let's do the second Sunday of Advent with the theme of peace, with the story of the rape of Dinah and her brothers killing everybody. Yeah, I didn't pick the timing, but the Lord did, but I was thinking about it this week. Shouldn't we? Shouldn't we be looking to the glory of Jesus and the wonder of the Christmas story in light of this, Jesus had to take on human flesh to save such sinners as this. So these are the kinds of people. Jesus came to save these very sinners, and sinners like them. God, in His grace, gives us warnings about the consequences of unbridled passions. And you know, when we get to the part where we say, this is the word of the Lord, and we say thanks be to God. We can say thanks be to God because He gives us warnings and promises. So turn in your Bibles to Genesis, 34 and I'll read the passage for us now. Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had born to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land, and when Shechem, the son of Hamor, the hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, get me this girl for my wife. Now, Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter, Dinah, but his sons were with his livestock in the field. So Jacob held his peace until they came and Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak with him. The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant, very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter. For such a thing must not be done. But Hamor spoke with them, saying, The soul of my son, Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it and get property in it. Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, let me find favor in your eyes. And whatever you say to me, I will give ask for as great a bride price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me, only give me the young woman to be my wife. The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father, Hamor, deceitfully because he had defiled their sister, Dinah, they said to them, we cannot do such a thing to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and we will be gone. Their words pleased Hamor and hamor's son, Shechem, and the young man did not delay to do the thing because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father's house. So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, These men are at peace with us. Let them dwell in the land and trade in it. For, behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters. Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us, become to become one people when every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised, will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours. Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us. And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son, Shechem. And every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city on the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brother, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure, and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of shechems house and went away. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain. Plundered the city because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys and whatever was in the city and in the field, all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, you have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed both Ian my household. But they said, should he treat our sister like a prostitute? This is the word of the Lord our God, we thank You that You give us a complete and full word, word, a word of all human experience the worst of it, from a horrible treatment of Dinah to a brutal massacre and revenge, the difficulty of life in a fallen world, the conflicts, the deceit, the passions that rage, they are real. They were real, then they are real today. And your word of grace, the gospel of hope, comes in answer to this. And so I would pray that You would help us see the thing that's absent in this passage is the mediator. Help us see the mediator, which is evident as we've been singing, as we have been hearing scripture, and as we know what the Gospel says. Help us see all of it we do. Pray that you would be at work in our city, there are many who have been victimized, abused, and they need not only the forgiveness in Christ, but new life, new identity, victory. Pray for those who are guilty that they would come to an understanding of their need for grace. Help us here, as we see the warnings that are in this passage, I do. Pray for those who are sick among us, like Tom Robinette, I pray that you would heal him, heal his brain quickly from this brain bleed. Help Karen, as she cares for him and endures. And I pray that you would be showing yourself faithful help. Tom, remain in good cheer, trusting you, Father. Now we pray for churches across our city, and as we think of your gospel going out during this season, we want it to go out in power. It has been a burden of mine that the sentimentality which can be good would be muted in some level, so that people would really see their need for Christ, the glory of Christ, turn to Christ and find true hope and eternal life. We ask right now that you would help us be worshippers in awe as we receive your word in Christ's name. Amen, you may be seated well unbridled, outrageous passions have dominated the news cycles for many months. Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking and intimate friendships with politicians, his friendships with royalty, with business tycoons, have scandalized two governments. They have scandalized numerous power players as the latest set of information is going to be released, who knows who else is going to be uncovered? See, some people seem to think, in Epstein's case, and those who were near him, that they can satisfy their lust by force, by manipulation, and they're somehow above the law, they could care less about victims just satisfying their own pleasures. Genesis, 34 is a tragic warning of what happens when God is not the center of life of a person, of a city, of a nation, in a godless environment or in an idolatrous environment, outrageous passions spark into flame, and they can scorch lives, a city, a nation. And those passions can be for sex, they can be for wealth, and in this passage, they can even be for justice. We read the story and we heartily affirm the Apostle Paul's statement. When we get to the end Romans 310, and 11, says, None is righteous. No Not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. What is absent? Clearly, absent from this passage is yahweh's will. No one seeks Him, no one mentions him. And as a result, these passions run amok. But as Kent Hughes points out in his commentary on this, yet in all this. God's fierce grace is at work. The beginning of chapter 35 God will recenter Jacob and his family.
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So it looks bleak for humankind in God's mercy and His plan, he continues to move forward. The big ideas is this. It's a warning to us when God is not the center of our life. Outrageous passions take flame and torch lives. The Apostle Paul tells us that His grace teaches by warnings and by promises looking back at Israel's failures in the wilderness, their idolatry and their sexual sin. He writes this in First Corinthians, 1011, but they were written down for our instruction these events that happened in Israel, on whom the end of the ages has come. This is to teach us, and this passage serves as a warning of what happens when we lack self control over our passions. Even good god given passions, when we lose self control, they do damage self control. That's what's lacking here. It's a fruit of the Spirit's work in our lives, as we center our hearts and our lives on Jesus Christ, His work for us, His love for us, His will for us, then we can be in balance. We can have good god given passions, lived for the good of others and for His glory. What's lacking here is sober mindedness. Sober mindedness is to be a virtue of leadership. Sober mindedness is the idea that you don't get carried away in excesses one direction or the other. You don't get drunk one direction. You don't get drunk in another direction, you stay centered. That's lacking here. So this is a warning of what the Apostle Paul might call the fruit of the flesh, the fruit of the flesh. So this morning, I want to break this down into six warnings and one invitation to hope, six warnings and one invitation to hope, six warnings about passions that run amok when God is not the center. And one hope for everybody in the room. Warning number one, passions can turn abusive when God is not the center. What was created good by God becomes grossly twisted. You remember as we opened Genesis, we looked in chapter one, chapter two, God made sexual intimacy in marriage, one man, one woman, exclusively for each other to be good. He called it at the end of Genesis, 131, very good. But throughout Genesis, we have seen them turn manipulative, abusive and violent. It happened to poor Dinah here, Jacob's youngest daughter, his daughter now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had born to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. Now, the seeing the women of the land was probably not positive. It's probably not positive. I think Moses is putting this here to let later Israelites not get too close to women of the land without a chaperone. Now, I want to be clear, she is, she is one sister with 11 brothers. I imagine she wants some girlfriends. There's none in her household. So she goes out to see the women of the land. And I want to be clear, this is not victim shaming. She was not out looking for men. She was not setting herself up. She might have been naive. Moses wants to set up later generations to not be naive, but she wasn't asking for it by going out verse two, when Shechem, the son of Hamor the hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. This is the classic formula of forbidden sin. He saw, he seized, he lay, he humiliated like Eve. Who saw, who took, who ate. Shechem, the son of the local prince, let his passions vent, and almost certainly she resisted, and so he grew physically violent. Sometimes they title this section mine is the. Filing of Dinah. Sometimes they titled it the rape of Dinah. That's what happened here. One of the things about God's word is it just repeats the history. This is the real world. It's the real world. She is physically harmed, she's traumatized, she's victimized, she's humiliated, and later on, Moses is going to call this an outrageous thing in Israel, and sadly, it still goes on today. The reports of those who work to stop sex trafficking say that 75 to 80% of online pornography videos are abusive or violent toward women. I just say that if, if, if online pornography is your temptation, you're almost certainly moving into another category besides mere temptation. Shouldn't should make everybody terrified of easy access that it is men in their teens and 20s today search out prostitution through the sex trafficking trade to satisfy these violent lusts when God is not the center of life, of heart, passions can turn violent. Warning number one, warning number two, passions twist love. After Shechem forced himself on Dinah, His conscience was twisted. When God is not the center, you can twist anything. And you could call it love. You could call it love. Isn't that what our culture does in a variety of ways, love is love? Is it? Is it really? Verse three, his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. You think of this that somehow his soul is drawn to her and he starts telling her tender things. Well, I didn't mean it violently. What does it mean to Speak tenderly to her after he forced himself on her. It's delusional, so much so Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, Give me this girl for my wife. I mean, did Shechem really love her? Well, in an emotional sense, sure, it says he did love her, but it's kind of classic, abusive manipulator activity, manipulator love. He really does have affections, but his conscience, his goals, his rationalizations are wildly delusional, trying to Speak tenderly to convince her that he really cares about her. I mean, how sickening to go from rape to romance. But you know, manipulators abusers convince themselves that they are really great all the time. The outrage continues. He even convinces his father to negotiate with Jacob to marry her. Here we go from lust to suppressing justice to trying to establish a marriage. It's a twisted love. Now, Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter, Dinah, but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. Presumably, he sent for his sons, ancient Near East older brothers played a significant role both in the protection of a sister and the securing of her marriage. Jacob is probably outnumbered, and remember, he's got a pretty serious limp, so if he comes out with swords swinging, he's probably not going to do well. He holds his peace. Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak with him. The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they had heard of it. Somebody sends words. Probably Jacob sends word, they come back, and it says they were indignant and very angry. Quite justly, quite appropriately, the brothers were furious because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel, it's among God's people, by lying with Jacob's daughter for such a thing must not be done. Moses wants it very clear Dinah was unjustly violated. The brothers stood up for her and. It. They're outraged. They're outraged that Hamor wants to negotiate a marriage. What should be happening is we should be negotiating justice.
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There were punishments and payments to be made throughout the ancient Near East if someone raped a maiden, none of that was discussed. What's discussed is marriage, love. When God's not the center, you rationalize all kinds of things, including abuse and abusive passions, twisted love, God's not the center. Passions turn abusive. Love is twisted, and it fuels greed. Number three, passions fuel greed from God's not the center. Good, ambitions to be productive, make a living, secure wealth, it could be good. Ambitions turn into idolatry, in a way, to make up for the sin of Shechem Hamar hoped Jacob and his sons would be just as greedy as he was. Like look down at 99 he's offering this. He's negotiating for a marriage. He says, make marriages with us, give us, give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. And here's the appeal to wealth and greed. You shall dwell with us, and land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it and get property in it. This could be very beneficial, very lucrative for all of us. Shechem jumps in. He is love struck, delusional. But Love Struck said to the Father, to her brothers, let me find favor in your eyes. I think favor is the last thing they wanted to give. I know what we want between your eyes,
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a very long sword.
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But he goes on, whatever you say to me, I will give. I will give a great gift. Ask for me as great a bride price, as and gift as you will the bride price was what a family paid the daughter's family, because she was a valuable producer in the home, and it would be a loss of income, so they paid a bride price. I will give whatever you say to me, I will also give you a gift, whatever it is. No price is too high. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.
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Hamor is going to convince his townsmen, also appealing to their greed, nothing is mentioned by Hamor or Shechem about the wrong that's been done to Dinah. It's to say this with enough money, who needs justice? With enough money, who needs justice?
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Hamor and shechems life was centered on their local gods and idols, which had no restraint on their sexual passions and allowed them to completely ignore justice. When God is not the center of your life, wealth can easily become an idol, but when God is the center of your life, you are content when, when you are content, you have the ability to fight both covetousness and lust. So here's a warning. They couldn't even see properly for justice. So when God is not the center, passions fuel greed. Number four, passions justify deceit. Passions justify deceit. When God is not the center, satisfying your passion is all that matters. The truth doesn't matter. It's the passion that matters. It can be a passion for sex, or it can be a passion for justice, for Dinah's brothers, the desire for justice becomes a lust for justice. A lust for justice becomes a lust for revenge. And both Dinah's brothers and Hamor lie. Watch how this unfolds. Look at first at what Jacob's sons do. The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully because he had defiled their sister. You have wronged our sister, so we're going to wrong. You just a very important statement to make, because one person violates God's will and God's way. Does that justify you violating God's will and God's way? If one person sins against you, can you sin against God? Ian,
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now we should notice Jacob's sons are good at doing what he does, deceit, they said to them, we cannot do this thing to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised for that would be a disgrace to us. This is about our honor. You want to honor us right? Only on this condition will we agree with you that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. One of the questions I got this week as we were playing it like, who would go through with this? But it was actually a common enough Ancient Near Eastern practice. There's records of circumcisions in Egypt and in Mesopotamia. It was common enough for clans to join together in marriages, and this was one of the ways that they created the sign of who is unified together, which is what Jacob's sons were counting on. Remember, lots of people do this, but here was the reality for Israel. For them, it was to be a marker of their identity as yahweh's people. They took God's covenant of circumcision, which made them exclusively God's, and they perverted it as a way to trick and manipulate, and we're going to find out in a second what they did with it. Outrageous passions, unbridled passions, justify all kinds of deceit. Look at Hamor side of it. Hamor and Shechem have great influence in the city. Hamor is the prince of the land. So he's the ruler. Shechem is his most honored son. Everybody had respect for Shechem. Odd, isn't it? They gather the men of the city. They tell them nothing of shechems, rape, of Dinah. They tell them instead of new marriage contract and new possibilities, notice this verse 22 only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us, to become one people when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. Now here's the greed that makes them agree to something so difficult. Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours. Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us and all who went out of the gate, which is a technical phrase for every man who is fighting age, everybody who can go out to the gate, go out of the gate, can go out to defend the city. And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son, Shechem, and every male was circumcised. All who went out of the gate of his city, obviously the set up is every fighting man is agreeing to the circumcision, an ironically haymors Deceit by not telling everyone what was really going on would cost the life of every fighting man in the city When God is not the center outrageous passions are ready to do violence. They're ready to twist love, they're ready to steal. They're ready to lie. Number five, they're ready to pervert justice. They're ready to pervert justice. Rape is an egregious crime. The brothers were absolutely correct in seeking vindication justice. The desire for justice was right, but a right cause or right justice, especially when you're indignant and very angry, which it says they were, can easily be perverted. When you don't let God take vengeance, you are prone to wild over reaction. Look what happens verse 25 on the third day when they were sore. For anybody over five circumcision, anybody old enough to remember a circumcision, the third day is fever day, just like most injuries, just like most surgeries, the third day is the worst day. It's when the infection set in. It's when the delusion. Seth sin and here they are at their absolute weakest. Two of the sons of Jacob Simeon and Levi Dinah's brother took their swords and came against the city while it fell secure and killed all the males. Every male is in delirium and fever, unable to defend himself and house after house, they slay every man, starting with Hamor and Shechem. It was a brutal butchery. The rest of the brothers heard of it and looted every property, everything of value. Yes, it was Simeon and Levi that led the charge, but everybody took advantage of the situation,
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a serious overreaction. We are all prone when we are wronged or when there is a perceived wrong to a wild over reaction in Romans 12, which is the turning point in this great letter of Romans, after understanding the grace and mercy of God and the forgiveness that's in Christ, there is an ethic that Christians are to pay attention to because they have been forgiven. In Christ, they have to think of outward justly, very wisely. Romans, 1217, says, repay no one evil for evil because somebody sins against you, it is not right for you to sin against God. Verse 19, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. There was a form of justice in the land, even at that day, even then, there was something the fancy title is Lex talionis. Lex talionis is the idea of an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. If you do something wrong, then you pay an appropriate penalty if you sin or if you steal or if you harm. There is an appropriate penalty. Deuteronomy gives an appropriate penalty for rape of a maiden. They went way beyond eye for an eye,
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the damage done is the damage to be sought when God is not the center, suddenly the desire for justice can balloon. It can mushroom. Anger can brood. Remember what James says about anger, the anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.
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What do you do with your offenses? What do you do with the offenses done to people you love? What do you do with them? Do you overreact? Do you brood? Do you plan? Do you act? Is it verbal punishment? Is it another kind of punishment? Is it the simple wishing for punishment? We've already seen a desire for revenge, and what that caused in a family. Jacob steals esau's blessing. Esau comforts himself with the thoughts of how to kill Jacob. What do you do with offenses against you? Do you overreact? And there's both in the passage, Jacob seems to have a secondary role here, the leader of the family. The leader of his household is under reacting. May be driven by fears his sons, because Father is not acting appropriately, not calling out Hamor, not calling out Shechem, not bringing them to their own city and their own courts to establish their own justice. Jacob, inactive leads to sons who are overreacting.
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Nobody is calling on God, nobody is seeking wisdom, nobody is applying biblical principles. When God is not the center, lust can turn violent. Love can be twisted. Greed can run rampant. Justice perverted and. Leads to the sixth. Passions can amplify conflict. When God is not at the center, your conflicts will be amplified. They will be amplified. We don't know what part Jacob played in the deceit, but it's clear that the genocide of Shechem was not part of his game plan. Verse 30, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, you have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed both Ian, my household, I you know, he wasn't really considered about injustice either. He was considered about saving the family, saving himself. There was no Supreme Court to appeal to Simeon and Levi became judge, jury and executioner, perhaps Simeon and Levi. Look at the whole city assuming that Hamor had told the men of the city and the gate. Oh, by the way, we're doing this because Shechem raped Dinah and now wants to marry her. That's left out of this, out of the picture, perhaps Jacob's sons are carried away by their wrath, because you have a whole city that approves of this heinous crime against their sister.
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The past. Passage. Passage ends, ends like this. Verse 31 they said, should he treat our sister like a prostitute? Jacob, of course, is silenced. No answer. I mean, Dad, you didn't do anything. You didn't stand for her dignity. We will stand for her dignity. I mean, if you're to take sides between the Hivites and the Israelites, and that was your sister, you might not be so condemning of Simeon and Levi. At least they acted for their sister's honor. If you were to take sides between Jacob and Simeon and Levi, it'd be tempting to think, you know, at least they acted for their sister. But we have some God inspired prophecy that Jacob gives at the end of his life. Turn to Genesis, 49, five through six. This helps us understand that Simeon and Levi went way too far. Turn to Genesis 49 it's to the right several chapters. Jacob, at the end of his life, is giving a series of prophecies for his sons. Here is one of the prophecies, verse five, Simeon and Levi are brothers. Weapons of violence are their swords. Let let my soul come not into their counsel. I don't want them to advise me. Oh, my glory be not joined by their company. For in in their anger, they killed men, in in their willfulness, they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger for it is fierce, and their wrath for it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Simeon doesn't get a really clear cut place to rest once they enter the Promised Land, and Levites get no inheritance in the land. Yes, the Levites are charged to keep the holiness of the Lord. God refines some of the zeal for justice in somebody like Phinehas, much later, who vindicated God's holiness, but here it was clear they had gone way too far. So like we said at the beginning, we get to the end. No one is righteous. No Not one. No one seeks for God. The gaping hole is the fact that no one pursues God and and yet, God is not done with Jacob or his sons. We need to hear the important rest of the story. Like so many Old Testament passages, you get to the end, and you're left with this, Oh, happy Advent. This is the second week of Advent in which we emphasize peace. We need someone to bring peace that black hole of the. That godliness needed to be filled and it is appropriate to talk about what Advent brings us. Let's finish talking about the one hope of deliverance. The one hope of deliverance, like so many of the stories, Jacob should have stood as the intermediary between his sons and the crime. He should have stood as the intermediary between Hamor and God, but he was absent, but God Himself took on the role in Jesus Christ. That's why we celebrate that's that's why Christmas is such a big deal. That's why we put lights up. That's why we bring the choir out. That's why we set up the symphony. Because what God has done in Christ is so astounding and phenomenal, it can change the worst situation and transform it. One hope of deliverance first, if you're Dinah, if you're a Dinah type person, if you've been abused, if you've been raped, humiliated, or something like it, what is there for you? Just in a room as large as ours. Some of you have, some of you women have, I'm told at the mission of the large percentage of men in the mission have been abused when they are children. What is there for you? Here's the extraordinary thing about Jesus' death and resurrection, it provides reconciliation. Every single human on the planet, at some point has been the victim of grave injustice. Everyone has and at the same time, every single man or woman has sinned against someone else or God. So you are both victim and sinner. The Gospel treats both in one man, Jesus, Christ, as sinners. If we confess our sin to God, trusting Christ as Savior, we can find forgiveness, restoration, hope Jesus went through grave abuse, brutality, murder so that he could bear the weight of our sin and provide forgiveness. Jesus not only had to become man to bear our sin, but he has also had to become man to bear our suffering, to be a victim. But here's the glory of what Jesus has done, because Jesus rose from the dead. He is no longer the victim, but the victor. Tanya kamk had sent me some excerpts from Justin and Lindsay Holcomb. Holcombs book helping rape and abuse victims. They write this, Jesus suffered violence that mirrors much of what victims experience today, shame, humiliation, silence, betrayal, pain, mockery, injustice, loneliness, more. While Jesus' suffering and death were real and brutal, there was resurrection after Good Friday. The cross is both the consequence of evil and God's method of accomplishing redemption. Jesus proves by the resurrection that God redeems, heals, makes all things new. There is a new creature in Christ. If you have been the victim, resurrection power means you are not the weak one, the humiliated one. You are a new creature in Christ, steadily being made new and renewed, they go on. Grace transforms and heals. Healing comes by hearing God's statements to you, not speaking your own statements to yourself. You're your identity is not what was done to you.
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Your identity is not what was done to you, but what is done for you by Jesus, Christ Ian.
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The lack of justice reminds us of this world's need for a just judge. So the gospel answers both the sinner and the victim. It's put together in Acts 10 verses 42 and 43 this way, it says he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through his name, there is forgiveness in Christ, before Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. And this is a day whether you are the victim or whether you are the passionate sinner, there is real peace offered by Christ. If you would take it by faith, Christ will make all wrongs right in the end. How do you center your life on God? You turn and return. Turn and return. You turn and return. You turn and return to the cross. You always turn and return to the cross where God's justice met, God's mercy, where you can find forgiveness, where you can find satisfaction. You turn and return to the empty tomb, to the empty tomb, where Christ has been raised to announce a resurrection of spiritual life, with a day in the future of a resurrection of physical life. How do I recenter my life on Christ? One of the answers to that is in Colossians three this is the daily call in your communion with God. Colossians 31 says this, if then you have been raised with Christ, you have believed that Christ forgives your sins, that you have trusted him and him alone for salvation. You trust that you will be raised with Christ because He has been raised from the dead. If you then you have been raised with Christ. Seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. What is above where Christ is a throne in which Grace pours out to suffering sinners, where mercy is available to those who confess their sin, what is above where Christ is seated, lightning and thunder announcing the justice and judgment of a holy God on an unholy and idolatrous, immoral world. Seek the things above where Christ is seated in his holy glory, in His holy power, in his rule and His abundant grace. Oh, what would have happened if Jacob and his sons would have sought God above we don't get to know those stories, but there is your story. If you were the one who let your passion run amok you have sinned, you could look above and say, What do I do now to please you? Oh, if you would just say to the Lord, after you have sinned, forgive me. What must I do to please you? And if you have been sinned against, if you would look to God above and say, What must I do to please you? Colossians, 31 says, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, three, five. Says the thing to put to death, thing to pull out the sword of the Spirit, put to death. Therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming. You don't continue on in those things. This is why Jesus is returning to judge the world. How inappropriate, how hypocritical. We all have earthly in us, indwelling sin. You. It. But those who are believers have what is heavenly in us, the Spirit of God to wage war.
50:14
Re centering is about this, day by day by day, with truths from the sword of the Spirit, with an anticipation of hope to come. What about the world? What about the world? All of us have a couple of favorite verses. I bet this is one of yours. What about the world? The Canaanites and the Perizzites who were left alive, the Gentiles could have seen God's grace at work. Could have been warned about God's judgment. Today, the world around you can and you know the familiar verses as we celebrate Advent and we celebrate peace. For to us, a child is born to us, a son is given the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God everlasting, Father, Prince of peace, of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. Remember Jeffrey Epstein and everybody who participated in his deviant world will one day have their day in God's court. Today they cry out for mercy from God. The world needs to cry out for mercy from God. It's part of why I've been praying this season. Mute the sentimentality. There's good sentimentality. There's a lot of joyful things that we celebrate but mute the sentimentality so people see the gravity of their sin and the glory of their Savior, and see the glory of a Savior who took on human flesh, abuse, brokenness to bring salvation.
52:47
Let's pray. Father, thank You for an awesome word, a sobering word. Everybody in the room's got a story about hardship and abuse and mistreatment. Everybody's got a story of sin in which they have hurt someone that they even think they love. And we stand in need afresh of the grace of God in Christ, who is our hope. We don't have to leave this room today with a great Ugg. We can leave this room today with a wondrous, awesome sense of your glory, because you saved sinners like this, and you save sinners today, and as we Take the Lord's Supper, help us remind ourselves again, of all there is in Christ. It's in his name we pray.
Dr. Dan Jarms is lead pastor at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
View Resources by Dan Jarms
Main idea: God’s grace should increasingly prompt you to live better with others, and worship Him. Let God’s Grace Affect Your Relationships with Others (1-11)Let God’s Grace Affect Your Relationship with Him (12-20)...
