Welcome to Unveiled Faces, a Redeemer Presbyterian Church podcast. Please enjoy our feature presentation. And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven, and there be no rain, or if I command thee the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." Let's go again to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before You, Father, as we read Your Word. And we know that Your Word is applicable in all points in history with Your people. And Father, we pray that as we read and as we study this Word today, and as this Word is proclaimed, that Your Holy Spirit would be active in applying this Word to our hearts, Father, transforming us and conforming us to the image of Your Son, helping us, Father, to be Your people, and to live as Your people, and to be Your instruments of righteousness. And Father, we pray in Your Son, Christ Jesus' name. Amen. A quote from about a month ago, or longer. In our stores, we demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive experience in many ways. Most relevant for the conversation currently underway, we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facilities that corresponds with their gender identity. story that if you've been following it has been on the headlines of the news quite a bit with different reactions not only from those who would hold to this position but even from the church and how they responded in different ways. Also, In another instance, a Fourth Circuit court ruled against the Virginia School District, which sought to have a special bathroom for the one transgender student. But that transgender student found that to be offensive, and they filed a lawsuit. And the federal court concluded in Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, should be interpreted as prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity. As the Department of Education letter suggests in 2015, the ruling allows a lawsuit brought against by the transgender student to proceed against the school. This case involves a biological girl who identifies as a boy. The court's majority explains it this way. Gigi's birth assigned sex, or so-called biological sex, is female. But Gigi's gender identity is male. says, note the scarce quotes around what the court calls so-called biological sex. Biological sex, in fact, is precisely what Congress protected in 1972. Also, within the same week that this was making the news, there was a man here in Pasadena in the public health department as a director. He was also a lay preacher. When contents of this sermon came to his employers, he was asked to give transcripts of his sermons. And because he had preached sermons against homosexuality, and he had preached sermons that evolution was an invention of the devil, he was fired from his job. We don't have to look far in America today to see the pulse, the moral pulse of America, and the downward spiral that we're on when it comes to morality. for sin is all around us. We see the rights of gays to get married. We see the rights of gays to be ordained into church leadership. We see children killing children, children killing parents. There are millions of people who actually believe that life does start at conception, but yet still support the right of a woman to have an abortion and murder her baby. That is the condition of America today. In fact, we see this spoken of in some of these confusions in morality and identity spoken of in Romans chapter 1. And just to give us a context of the judgment that we see around us, I'd like to read Romans 1, 18 to 32. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it. to them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because that when they know God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped God and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever? Amen. For this cause God gave them up, to vile affections. For even their women did change their natural use into which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of women, burned in their lust one towards another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves the recompense of their error, which was meat. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. Being fulfilled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Now this is applicable to what I think we see happening in our nation today, but this has been applicable to different nations throughout history. In fact, if you were to study the history of Rome, you would see that as the church became the official religion of Rome, you also see many of these moralities very similar to what's taking place even in our nation today. And if you know anything about history, Rome was never conquered from an enemy. Rome fell from corruption within. The greatest nation in the world fell from corruption within. Well, some call us the greatest nation. And sometimes you look back in our history and you see that group that they criticize, those called the Puritans, those who came here to establish a city on a hill, those who came here to establish a Christian nation. And our nation was established on Christian values, but we very quickly started to depart from that. But our nation has been blessed greatly because of God's people. And I believe as we come to the text today, we see that there's lots of things we can do. And as we are in an election year, and as we seek to elect godly leaders, we recognize, if you've been voting for any amount of time, that oftentimes, no matter which way you vote, it doesn't seem to bring any change. Republican, Democrat, seems like we get the same thing. One just seems to put us a little on a faster pace down that downward spiral of immorality. But they both seem to head the same direction. And I believe we need to be active in politics, and we need to be active in voting for godly leaders. But we understand the government can't save us. Far too many people are looking for government to save them. In fact, they desire for us to live in fear so that we feel that we need them. That's one of their motives that they drive people through either having people dependent upon them for money, or to depend upon them for protection. But as we can see, around this world, governments can't protect people. Only God can protect people. Only God can provide. And so I believe the text that we'll be looking at today speaks clearly to this. If you happen to be following Joe McDermott's blog post, he wrote a blog, I believe it was Friday. And he said the wrong way to do social activism. And here's a quote from this. And he's speaking to those who have been parading through Target Street preaching in the Target with YouTube videos and posting them. And he's saying there are right ways and wrong ways. to deal with this. And even as their stocks have gone down greatly, the CEO has denied that it has anything to do with those 1.2 million Christians who are boycotting their store and saying that it's because of climate change that their stores have lost such a large amount of money, unwilling to recognize that there is still a segment of our society that does not desire for these things to take place. And General McDermott is saying, one of the great reasons evil has progressed so far in this nation to begin with is that Christians have perennially tolerated trespasses of their own while pointing to change those of others. Since the earliest days of our nation's settling and founding, this has been true. Mercantilism, war, Welfarism, statism, racism, slavery, public education, government regulation of everything, and more hypocrisy after hypocrisy. You think God will bless any of that? No. He judges it. We have a perfect and eternal foundation in God's Word, His law. And some of the foundations of this all-but-once Christian civilization If we were to get ourselves true to those foundations first, we might find that the rest of these social problems aren't nearly as big as they are now. God has a way of blessing Christians like that when they repent of their own sins first and return to Him. Until then, guys like this can expect to make headlines with Huffington Post for the end of being ridiculed indefinitely, and rightly so. If Christians intend to preach repentance and social affairs, we have a whole lot to repent of for ourselves first. I believe Joel's right here. Oftentimes we point out the evils in this world, but oftentimes we aren't living much differently. Oftentimes we are making the same sorts of trespasses on other people's liberties. Oftentimes we are harboring secret sins. Oftentimes we are harboring hate for our brother. And I believe this is where God's Word is applicable to us today. And as we look at the text today, the outline of the text will be the remnant of repentance, the requirement of repentance, and the results of repentance. Well, leading up to this text and background, if you start in 2 Chronicles 1, you'll see that Solomon is instituted as king. And as was promised to David, David was not allowed to build a temple for God because of the blood that was on his hands for all the fighting that he had done. But he was promised that his son would build a temple of God. And you see this whole process of this temple being built and Solomon prays to God and he prays for wisdom. And God says, because you have only prayed for wisdom, I will also give you great riches as well. And he became the greatest king in the history of the world next to our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. And many people came around to hear his wisdom, and he was a great king, but he built this temple. And leading up to this temple was a great feast and dedication of the temple. many thousands of animals were sacrificed. And we are told that Solomon prayed and the fire came down from heaven and consumed the offering. And our Heavenly Father came down and resided in the temple so that even the priest could not enter the temple because of the holiness of God. And God had chosen this people to be an example to the world. God had chosen them as His chosen race, His people to demonstrate the holiness of God. And He gave them a whole set of laws to follow. And He gave them a temple system and a sacrificial system, all pointing forward and foreshadowing Christ and what Christ was to accomplish. And then we come to this text. And as we read a minute ago, we see that God speaks to Solomon. And God knows the hearts of people. And he knows that we are quick to forget what God has done for us and that we turn away from him. And God here gives the blueprint or an example of what is required in order to turn back to him, in order to receive his blessing again. And he directly ties his blessing to the land of the people in which they live. And we see this over and over in Scripture. Even when God's people are captured and taken into another nation, those that are godly, when you're looking at Daniel or Joseph, those nations are blessed when those men are put into positions of leadership because of who their God is. And when God's people are faithful, He will bless their land. And if we would like to see God's blessing upon this land again, we must follow this blueprint, and we must be God's people, and we must be those who are willing to repent and to be His servants. And so we look at this, and we see the first point of the text, the remnant of repentance. And we see, if my people Now the terminology there we see is My people, and it's used to identify those called to repentance. And these words signify possession. These are those people who belong to God. Those whom He has set apart, those whom He has chosen, those whom He has declared to be His servants, those are God's people. We read about this in Deuteronomy 7, it says, And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. See these were those people that God had given His Word. And this word was meant to be held constantly in view, to be taught to their children, to distinguish them from the world around them. It defined who they were. For they were the people whom God had revealed himself through the written word. And they were those who were to share, to be a light into this world, and to share about God, about the holiness of God, and about what God requires, but also about this promised one who would come. This One who would be the seed of Abraham. This One who would come and be the Savior of His people. And see this Israelite nation is the same nation that God had freed from slavery under the hand of the Egyptians. They were a holy people meant to be set apart among other nations. They were His chosen people, His treasure. See, God looked down from heaven and He chose to raise up a nation of people for Himself, His very own possession, His treasure. But see, this term, if my people, is not only limited to those who are born descendants of Abraham. We also see later on in the text that there was what was called the Proselyte Jew. were also those who came as foreigners and lived among the people. And they converted to Judaism, and they were circumcised, and they went through ritualistic cleansings, and they were able to worship God with the Israelites. There was an outer court that they were allowed to enter. They were not allowed to enter the inner court because that was a court for those who were descendants, physical descendants of Abraham. But those foreigners who had converted who had been circumcised were allowed to enter the outer court and to worship God. We read about how to treat these foreigners in Numbers 15, 14-16. It says, And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generation, and will offer an offering made by fire, or a sweet savoring to the Lord, as ye do, so shall he do. One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you. in ordination forever in your generation, as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord. One law, one manner shall be for you and for the stranger that sojourneth with you." And so what we see here is that God did not intend to divide the people up based upon ethnicity. But He was dividing the people up based upon those who were the true worshipers of Yahweh. Those who were willing to submit to His plan. Those who are willing to covenant with Him, to come and offer sacrifice, looking forward to that promised seed that would come and save them. And see, God commanded the Israelites to allow these foreigners to participate and to convert to Judaism because, see, God is not a racist. God is a jealous God. But God accepts all those who offer true worship to Him. All those who acknowledge Him as the God of creation, as the God of gods, as the sovereign ruler of all things. And God's people are consistent, are to consist from all nationalities. And we see this whenever the promise was given to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the sands on the shores, numerous as the stars in heaven. And he didn't understand how this would take place with only one child. But you see this being fulfilled and you see this direct connection given in Galatians showing that the fulfillment of all these Gentiles coming to Christ is the fulfillment of that seed. that would bring salvation to God's people. But see, the term of my people is not limited to the people of Judaism. It's not limited to those who are circumcised in the flesh and those who worship of the Temple, because what we see in the New Testament is Christ came and fulfilled this Old Covenant, the shadow of what He was to do when He came. We see the same terminology spoken of of these Gentile believers. In 1 Peter 2 it says, "'To whom, coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in the time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. clearly calling these people living stones, clearly calling them those who are built upon now a spiritual temple. No longer a temple made with stone, but the temple of God's people built up. We are the Church. We are the Holy Nation. We are the people of God. We are God's chosen people as the Church today. We are those who are called my people. We are those who are called by my name, speaking of Christ Jesus. We call ourselves Christians after the name of Christ. We are God's chosen race. We are his holy people. We are those set apart to be his servants. That means a church that can be distinguished from this world of lies, deceit, adultery, homosexuality, pornography, murder, or any other abomination to God. Because you are His special people, a people that should be proclaiming the praises of Him. Him that saved you from the pits of hell and brought you into this marvelous light. Him that showed mercy on you when you were not deserving of any mercy. For we all deserve hell. We are all wretched sinners apart from the grace of Christ, but He came and He fulfilled the law perfectly for us. And He went to the cross and He took the wrath of God that was reserved for us upon Himself, and He placed His righteousness, imputed it to our account. And we now stand before our Holy God boldly, not because of anything that's good in us, but because of the righteousness of Christ. But there's still a requirement that we, as God's people, repent. For see, blessings and curses are still attached to covenant faithfulness. If we are God's covenant people, there are still blessings and curses attached to that. And if we are to see blessings, we have to be obedient to God's Word. Recognizing that it's not in our own strength that we can do this, but it's Christ working through us. And that our good works are Christ working in us, and they're His works. And it's not obeying the law that makes us righteous, it's trusting in the full, finished work of Christ, that His righteousness is placed in our account. And it's that righteousness that allows us, that gives us the freedom to obey the law that He has given us. And so we see that if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves. We come to the requirements of repentance here. So what are the requirements of repentance? The first one being, will humble themselves. See the Hebrew verb here, and actually we'll see this in all four of these requirements, implies a sense of continual action. For see, pridefulness sneaks up in our hearts the minute we stop striving for holiness. For we are a prideful people. We are a stiff-necked people, and we easily forget all that God has done for us. And so it's a continual action to submit ourselves. And the word humble here means to line yourself up under the authority of another. And so to humble ourselves is to recognize that there is nothing good in us, and that we must line ourselves up under God. We must line ourselves up under Christ as the head. For we are described as his body, and he is the head of the church. And we have to submit to His will. And we line ourselves up under, we humble ourselves, we esteem others and others' needs as higher than our own needs. For as soon as we let pride sneak in, we are actually lining ourselves up under our own will. We are proclaiming ourselves to be God when we serve ourselves rather than others. And when we place our own needs above others, we become prideful. See, humility was understood by a man named John Newton, the writer of the famous hymn, Amazing Grace. And many years ago, the converted slave trader who had become a preacher and a Christian poet was laying upon his deathbed. A young clergyman came to see him and expressed deep regret at the prospect of losing so eminent a laborer of the Lord's Vineyard. And if you know anything about John Newton, he had a great guilt that he felt for his previous life as a slave trader and as one who was a captain of a ship and all the horrible things that happened. And he devoted, after God saved him, with that amazing grace, he devoted his life to the ministry and became a diligent laborer for the Lord. And this was his response to this man. He said, true, I'm going on before you, but you'll soon come after me. When you arrive, our friendship will no doubt cause you to inquire of me, but I can tell you already where you most likely will find me. I'll be sitting at the feet of the thief whom Jesus saved in his dying moments on the cross. See, this man never lost sight of his status before Christ Jesus. In fact, it reminds me of one of my favorite verses in Romans. After Paul goes through Romans 7, talking about his struggle with sin, and his struggle with the flesh, and how he knows what to do, but he doesn't do it. And he knows what he shouldn't do, but yet he does those things anyway. And he says, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And he was recognizing there that the flesh was always pulling him away from his Savior. But he says, thanks be to Christ Jesus. And he starts off chapter eight with, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and walk according to the Spirit. And that's where we should be. We should always recognize that we are the wretched of men apart from the grace of Christ Jesus. There is nothing that makes us better than anyone else. It is only Christ Jesus that we glory in and the works of Christ Jesus. So see, a repentant person is a humble person, and a humble person is a broken-hearted person, a person broken-hearted over their sin. Therefore, to repent, we must esteem ourselves as lower than others. We must forfeit our right to ourself and submit our will to God and His leadership. This leads us to the second requirement of repentance, is if my people will humble themselves and pray, There again here the Hebrew verb implies a continuation of action here. This is a continual spirit of prayer. This doesn't mean you spend all of your time in your prayer closet, but it means that we look to God for all things, even the littlest thing, knowing that He provides everything that we have. Giving Him glory for all that we have, consulting Him any time we make decisions, knowing that He will guide our steps. And this isn't placing out a fleece as some would do. This is trusting and knowing that if we have the indwelling Spirit in us, and as long as the decision that we are making is not a sinful decision, that God guides us. But He can't guide us if we are not spending time talking to Him. He speaks to us through His Word. He speaks to us through our conscience. And we should be continually in prayer to Him. But see, only one who prays is one who has a humble heart. One who doesn't trust in his own strength. One who recognizes that the only strength he has is in Christ Jesus. And he constantly turns to God in prayer for direction. The Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote, it says, God looks not at the elegancy of your prayers to see how neat they are, nor yet at the geometry of your prayers to see how long they are, nor yet at the arithmetic of your prayers to see how many they are, nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers, but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are. There is no prayer acknowledged, approved, accepted, recorded, or rewarded by God, but that wherein the heart is sincerely and wholly committed." And so we can only have a heart like that if first we humble ourselves before we pray. And so what we're seeing here is a progression of steps that lead to a heart of repentance. we can also find instructions for prayer in Philippians chapter 4. It says, Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. If you've ever ministered to anybody that's going through a hard time, And you see the power of prayer. You see that peace that surpasses understanding. When you're praying with somebody who's terminally ill, but yet you see the prayer bring peace in their heart. You understand this. For it's only God that can do this. And see, we don't change God through prayer. God changes us through prayer. And that's why we pray, because we're looking for the will of God in our life. And sometimes it's not things we understand, but we know that God has the best intentions for us. And when we're going through difficulties and sufferings, we know that it's for our good. That for God teaches that he works all things together for good for those who are his. And we trust and know that we pray that God is guiding us and leading us. And so you are to be long-suffering prayer, giving thanksgiving in all things. And this is a requirement for repentance. The third requirement of repentance here is this, if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face. So what does it mean to seek the face of God? The verb used here again implies a hungering or a deep desire for the presence of God. Do we hunger for the presence of God? Do you think a proud heart hungers for the presence of God? It's only that humble person who recognizes that all things come from their God, who truly seek out God, who recognizes that He is their Father, and that He loves them, and that He desires to provide for them abundantly. They seek their face. Just as a child seeks to spend time with his earthly father, we should seek the face of our Father. So who seeks the presence of God? We find this answer in Psalm 24. It says, He hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob." And so what we see here is those who have clean hands and a pure heart. And now just to give you a little bit of understanding of this, We see those in, if you study the posture of prayer in Judaism, they didn't always bow their heads in prayer. In fact, oftentimes, after they would take their sacrifice to the temple, and their sins would be atoned for, they would stand forth and they would lift up hands to heaven, and they would pray. And what they were signifying was, is that my sins have been atoned for, and I now stand before you with clean hands and a pure heart, openly praying to you for guidance. openly praying to you for sustenance. These are those who truly worship God. Those who understand what God desires. He desires hearts that desire Him. Hearts that men and women who are after God's own heart. Men who seek Him. Men who humble themselves and pray and seek God's face. So who is worthy here to seek the face of God? In Galatians 3, 26 and 29 it says, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. And so what we see there is by trusting and faith in Christ Jesus that we are made heirs according to the promise. That promise that was given to Abraham that we, by trusting and faith in Christ, are made heirs. And that promise that Christ Jesus would be the firstborn among many brethren and that we are His joint heirs. We receive the eternal blessing of eternal life. in heaven with Christ and all the blessings of heaven because we trust and faith in Christ Jesus and we put on His righteousness So those that are covered with the righteousness of Christ are those who are worthy to seek God's face. See, no one can come to the Father upon their own righteousness. No one is righteous of himself. And if we are to, as Hebrews teaches, to boldly go before the throne of grace, it's only because we are covered in the righteousness of Christ. And we see the fourth and last requirement of repentance here. It says, if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, here again implying a continuation of action. If you've been a Christian for very long, you recognize that you are constantly turning from your wicked ways. For that flesh, as Paul spoke of, is constantly pulling at us, leading us. But we are being sanctified. And we know that as God's Word teaches, one day we will be glorified and we will no longer be hindered by this flesh that leads us astray. But we also know that we have the power of the Holy Spirit living in us. And that if we are those who humble ourselves and pray and seek the face of God, that we will be able to turn from our wicked ways. It's the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. But this only happens with one who is humble, one who turns to God in prayer, one who seeks the face of God. It's only then that we are able to turn from our wicked ways. So how do we turn from sin? In Hebrews, we're actually told, it says, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction, contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chastens and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chastens not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons." And see what this teaches us is how do we lay aside our sins? It's by keeping our eyes fixed upon Christ Jesus. And it says to run with endurance, and Paul here is using a terminology of an athlete who fixes his eyes on the finish line, which is Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus and the finished work on the cross. And he runs with endurance, and he doesn't look to the right or the left to the sins that so easily beset him, because he recognizes that he is weak in his own flesh, but he is strong in Christ Jesus. And it is a race, but yet He also says to recognize that when you are being disciplined of God, when you are under the chastisement of God that it is a good thing. Just as a Heavenly Father chastises us, we as fathers discipline our children in order to bring about righteousness in them. Recognize that they need to understand that they too are sinners in need of a Savior. To recognize that they cannot achieve their own righteousness, but they recognize that God has given them a command to be obedient to their parents and to be obedient to God's Word and to recognize that they must trust in faith in Christ Jesus in order to obtain this. And so it's to teach our children how to repent as well, how to humble themselves and pray and seek God's face and turn from their wicked ways. How to take off sin as you would take off a coat, and how to put on Christ. John Flavel, the Puritan, wrote, it is easier to cry against a thousand sins of others than to mortify one sin in ourselves. How true is that? We easily see the sins of others, but we need to be those who examine ourselves, those who look inwardly and see those sins that are hindering our relationship and those who humble ourselves before God and pray and plead to God that He would deliver us from those sins and that He would set us apart for His service. See, God's called us all to repentance and therefore we must all humble ourselves under God. We must pray continually for a repentant heart, and diligently seek God's face, and turn from the sin, and turn towards His marvelous light. So these are the four requirements of repentance. And this brings us to the third point of the text, which is the results of repentance. So what are the results of repentance? It says, if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven See, when we humble ourselves and pray and see God's face, He promises that He will hear from Heaven. We're told that God does not ignore the cries of a repentant heart. Only a humble person realizes that he needs the ear of God. And this is the terminology we hear here. It means the inclining of the ear. And we know that God hears all things. But what He's teaching us here is that He doesn't listen to the prayers of the unrighteous. He doesn't listen to those who aren't covered by the blood of Christ. He only hears the prayers of those who are truly His, His children. He doesn't hear the prayers of a prideful person. We see this illustrated in Luke chapter 18 in the the prayer of the Pharisee and the publican. And we're told that a Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And see, that was the heart of a prideful man. For he stood in the temple of God, And it says He prayed, and I think it's very intentional here in this parable that Jesus gave the people, thus unto Himself. For see, His prayers went no higher than the top of His own head, because that's where His righteousness resided, in His own pridefulness. And it's saying that God didn't hear these prayers. And all He could do was point out the sins of others and how much better He was than them. And even to the point of pointing out a publican who would not have been allowed in the inner court, but who would have been out in the outer court. Thank you for not making me like this man. But that's not what we see in the publican. What we see in the publican is a man who can only beat his breast and say, be merciful to me, a sinner. And we don't really know his posture, but I can imagine his head hung in shame, maybe standing far off because he was a publican and he was despised of the Jews. Maybe he came to the temple knowing how they would view a publican, even having the audacity to step into the temple. And he's over there, he just wants to worship his God. And he's in the corner, and he beats his breast and says, God, be merciful to me, sinner. This is the attitude that we have to have. For we are all just like that publican, and we are told that that is the man that went down to his house justified. Not the Pharisee, not the one that was considered the most religious of his day, not the one who fasted even beyond what the law required, but the one who recognized his own sinfulness. The second result of repentance is to forgive their sins. It says, "'If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins.'" See, God is a merciful God. Even though we all deserve hell, He has chosen to show us grace. So why does God forgive our sins? 1 John 1 says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. See God made a covenant with His people and He is faithful to keep that covenant. And as we've seen even with the Israelites, they turn away from Him and they become prideful in their hearts, He allows nations to come in and to overthrow them. But when His people's hearts are humbled and they turn back to Him, He delivers them. And we see that over and over throughout God's Word, for that's the state that He desires us to be in, as His covenant people, as His chosen race, as His royal priesthood. So we are to repent and claim this promise of God, for we are God's covenant people and we know that His covenant promises apply to us. And we are to make supplication for those that are struggling. We are to lift up those that have fallen. We are to encourage our brothers. We are to love one another as Christ has loved the church. We are to get excited about the cross, for without the cross we have no hope. No hope of forgiveness apart from Christ bearing our iniquities for us. By his stripes are we healed. And we see this third result of repentance here. It says, if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Isn't this what we desire? Don't we desire to see our land healed? As we're in this election year, and we look around at all the immorality around us, and as we desire to elect godly leaders. You hear people, they want this land healed. But oftentimes we go about it the wrong way because we start by pointing fingers at others and we quit looking at ourselves. And we have to turn back and look at ourselves for the blessings on this nation come from the faithfulness of God's people. See, God is a mighty king and he's master of everything and he can bring about whatever he desires in any nation. And whether nations stand or fall, is dependent upon the blessing of His people. And if He chooses for this nation to stand, it will. But if He chooses for it to fall, it will. But He is still faithful to the covenant promises that He has made to His people. And we need to understand, if we truly desire to see blessing, we must be those people of repentance. In 2 Chronicles 33.10, we see a story, and we see this pattern take place. And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his father. And he prayed unto him, and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplications. And he brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God." Now right there we see the exact pattern taking place that Solomon spoke of, and that God spoke to Solomon. And we see this man who had a prideful heart, and he wouldn't recognize God. And God let the Assyrians come in. And back then, this was the way that they would display a defeated enemy. They actually hooked hooks into him, and they drug him back to Assyria as a display of this king who was haughty enough, prideful enough to think that he could stand against the Assyrians. And God allowed this to happen. But see, this man humbled himself, and he prayed, he cried out to God, he sought the face of God, and he turned from his wicked ways, and God restored him, restored the blessing to Israel, delivered him and set him up as king again. And it said that he knew that the Lord God was God. We see salvation there in his heart. We see that Manasseh followed this pattern of repentance, and God delivered him, and God blessed the nation. See, God is calling for repentance, and when we look around and we see the evil in this world, we need to recognize that God is calling for repentance of His people. See, we are the problem with this nation, because we are the people bringing judgment from God on this nation. See, let's look at how the book of Chronicles ends. In chapter 36, in verse 11. It says, "'Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord with his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. Moreover, all the chief priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up but times and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Shadis who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion upon. young men, or maiden, old men, or him that stooped for age. He gave them all into his hand, and all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princess, and all those who brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword, carried he away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. For as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbaths to fulfill threescore and ten years." Now what we see there is those who would not repent. And God delivered him. And as we see in the beginning of the book of 2 Chronicles, as a temple was sanctified and God comes down and takes residence of the temple, we can see it was not those outward acts that God really cared about. It was about their hearts that He cared about. And this temple that was the greatest temple that Israel had ever had, the greatest temple of God, meant nothing to God apart from the hearts of His people. And He allowed the Babylonians to come in and to destroy it. because the Israelites had become prideful in their prosperity. They had become prideful in their temple, and they had forgot about that God truly desires a repentant heart. But we know that God's covenant promises will come true, and as we finished up here in this verse, that it was for a certain time that God would bring His people back to this land. And that when they are faithful to their God, God brings blessing to their land. And if we recognize from these patterns we see in Chronicles, we can recognize, one, a great warning, knowing that if the church does not repent, that God will bring judgment. But we also know that a repentant church, a church that looks to God, will be blessed. The nation will be blessed. And we know that persecutions will come, and we know that chastisements will come, but we should be a people of repentance. And we, once again, will see a revival in this nation if we, as God's people, turn back to Him. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before You, and we thank You, Father, that You are a righteous God, a holy God. And Father, that you have called us as your people to humble ourselves and to pray and to seek your face and to turn from our wicked ways and that we trust in these promises knowing that if we as your people will do this, that you will hear from heaven and that you will forgive our sin and that you will heal our land. And Father, we pray that you would apply these words to our heart. Help us to truly be a people of repentance. And we pray in your precious Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen. This has been a presentation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. For more resources and information, please stop by our website at visitredeemer.org. All material here within, unless otherwise noted. Copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Elk Grove, California. Music furnished by Nathan Clark George. Available at nathanclarkgeorge.com.