The title of this sermon is National Judgment. I have to say, I spent a long time trying to come up with a title for this. What was an appropriate title? And I went through many different, you know, I spent more time trying to find a title than almost preparing the sermon, because I was like, why am I preaching this sermon today concerning national judgment? we're in the book of Galatians, how is it that the book of Galatians, we would jump back and read from 2 Samuel? Well, in the book of Galatians it says that we are no longer under the schoolmaster. In 328 it says, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. This does not teach that there are no longer any distinctions between nations, between social classes, and between men and women. It simply means that we are all equally inheritors of God's promise to Abraham by faith. Today, unfortunately, this verse is used to teach the erasure of all God-ordained distinctions. Why have nation states? Why not have open borders? Everyone should be the same economically. Men and women don't have distinct roles. So if we're all one in Christ, all those distinctions go out the windows, is so some people interpret this passage. But God did not erase those distinctions. But why am I gonna preach on Saul's killing of the Gibeonites? why does how does this possibly relate to the Galatians the teaching of Galatians well it has to do with national judgment the whole nation suffered because of his sin in order for there to be national judgments there have to be nations to judge God does not judge the entire world for the sins of one small group of people. Why should national sins in the USA be paid for people by living in Brazil? If you're Brazilian, why should you pay, you know, suffer a national judgment if you're not, you know, you're not American, you're not a US citizen. And so, God is not finished with nations. He didn't abolish nations. We're not all one in Christ and therefore there are no nations, there are no national civil governments. He has ordained that that remain so. And it is good that God has divided up the world into many different nation states. As we learned from the Tower of Babel, when you have one giant super state, you can accomplish a lot, you can build a big tower, and you can build great evil. The wickedness that can be achieved when everybody's combined together working toward one goal, it can destroy the whole world. So God in his providential mercy broke up the peoples and spread them over the face of the earth, made into smaller jurisdictions so that we would be able to remain, that we would not have a worldwide judgment that would destroy everything. God in the past has done worldwide judgments. As we know, Noah, he destroyed the whole world. Babel was divided up, separate jurisdictions to prevent worldwide judgment. It's a mercy to God that he's done this. We have to see it that way. It is merciful that he has divided this up. Another way this passage directly relates to the Galatian passage is how it explains corporate responsibility or covenant solidarity. Usually hear these words, what is covenant solidarity? It's the unity of covenantal administration. You know, when you live in covenant, when you are a part of a nation, you know, you sometimes say, well, I'm not, you know, that person is not my president. He actually is. You are in covenant with the national government of the country you belong to. You can't just, by an act of your will, un-covenant yourself unless you renounce your citizenship. God has called us to live under governments that are by no means perfect. You were brought into this world by parents that were by no means perfect, and he commanded you to respect and obey them, and forbear, and to, he can use broken people to govern. Now that doesn't mean that the sins of nations go by without his justice, and that's what some of this sermon is about. I'm going to talk about that issue. How does the sins of a people or group affect the individual? You know, being Americans, we think of individual, you know, individual liberties. We always think of ourselves as individuals. We don't always think of ourselves as part of a group, a national group. Are individuals guilty of the sins of their government? That's another big question. Is there a statute of limitation for corporate or national sins? You think of that, you know, we have statutes of limitations on the prosecution of certain crimes. Well, does God have a statute of limitations? Can sins of a nation be forgiven? Who were the Gibeonites? If you read in the book of Joshua, you'd find out they were a group of Amorites who deceived the Israelites into making a peace treaty with them during the conquest of Canaan. They said they came from a far country and they wanted to enter in league with the Israelites. You know, please, you know, don't destroy us. And they made a covenant with them. not knowing that they actually were inhabitants of Gibeon, of the city of Gibeon. And they found out later, wow, we've been deceived. These people deceived us. And then some people wanted to do something. They said, no, we've already made a covenant. We can't break that covenant with them. But they deceived us, yes. But we made a covenant with them. We have to hold to it. So the Israelites figured out that the Gibeonites had deceived them. They made them bond slaves. You know, I'm not gonna kill you. The covenant has protected you from being killed, but because of your lying, you're gonna be bond servants. You know, they were viewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation. And later, when we get to 2 Samuel 21, the Gibeonites show up again, Heng Saul violated this treaty with the Gibeonites. He killed them, killed some of the Gibeonites. And what happened when he did that? It led to a famine in the land. There was a problem with crop failure. Crops were not growing. And you realize how long ago that treaty was? Almost 400 years. Saul thought, for the zeal of Israel, I'm going to get at these Gibeonites. But the Gibeonites had not failed to uphold their end of the covenant. They didn't break it. But Saul did. And this made God very angry. I broke this. Section if you take Psalm or not Psalm 2nd Samuel 21 1 through 10 or 1 through 1 through 10 You can break it up into a Couple parts the first one is in The first verse there was a famine in the days of David three years year after year That is called national judgment The whole nation suffered. The whole nation suffered. It wasn't just Saul and his house. The whole nation suffered. There are many people who try to play with this text and say, well, the reason why Saul and his family were punished is because the children of Saul were involved in this sin with Saul when he did it, therefore they're punished. The problem with that is they were too young to have done it, and they weren't the king. Some of this action requires regal authority. If you're a grandson of a king, you do not have regal authority to do anything, really. You can't look at Saul's children and say that they were guilty of actually killing the Gibeonites. And sometimes that's how people try to say, this passage doesn't seem right. We've got to make it all on Saul and all his house. Yeah, but think about this. Every person in that country is affected by this famine, not just his house, David's house, everybody. The lowest person has a problem getting food. This is a national judgment. Now, today, there is a view that God no longer does this. People don't think this way. And there's a tendency, people get very angry, usually, when someone says, some great catastrophe happens, they say, well, that's God's judgment. Well, there's a sense in which It's right. We don't want to try to explain why a national judgment came, because we don't always know what the cause is of the judgment. In this passage, we do. In a way, what's beautiful about this passage is you're able to peer behind the veil and see the divine courtroom. You and I don't have access to that divine courtroom like this. The reason why this passage you're able to peer into that courtroom is because God has revealed it to us. We don't have a David today that is a prophet that can write inspired Psalms and can be an oracle of God and speak forth direct communication with God. Here we do. And when you look into this, you are peering into the very courtroom of God. And you're going to see a divine proceeding here. You're looking into it. Now, what happens today when you have major catastrophes is people say, well, that's because the sin of this nation did such and such. Which one of the sins is God punishing? And they'll pick one that's one of their pet sins that they don't like and say, it's because of this one. And you don't know. And the thing is, you also don't know this, is God is long-suffering. Do you realize that the northern kingdom of Israel, the Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that phrase shows up over and over in the book of the Kings, Jeroboam the son of Nebat. They never came away from the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. His sin was what? He set up the golden calves, Dan and Bethel. He set up a syncretistic worship, a state religion. They were corrupt. And none of the kings that ever followed after Jeroboam son of Nebat ever, ever repented of that sin. They always kept those calf sinners. How long did the northern kingdom last? How long was God long suffering to the Northern Kingdom? Almost 200 years, over 200 years. He sent them prophets over and over again. He sent them judgments. Okay, you're invaded by this group. What more could he have done for the Northern Kingdom? And this is a lesson for us to see the tender mercy of God towards sinners and groups of sinners. He is long-suffering, over and beyond what any of us would ever do to somebody who wrongs us, often. We need to be like our Lord in this, and it's when you are brought to Saving faith that you're actually able to do this. You can't you can't actually be long-suffering. You can't actually love your enemy Good one thing about realize these commands that God gives us love your enemies and those who persecute you He's actually When he gives that command He isn't telling the natural man to do that He's talking about the new creation These are commands, they're gospel commands. They're only able to be fulfilled by someone who's redeemed. And it's not mere externality. It's not just someone who is persecuted and say, boy, I can't wait till God pours a hot ember on you. It's not anger toward those who are persecuted. If you look at Stephen, the martyrdom of Stephen, was he thinking, boy, I tell you, you're going to stone me, but boy, it's coming to you. Was it that? No! God, forgive them for they know not what they do. Nobody who is a natural man could do that. Do you think if someone started throwing rocks at you that you, your natural self, would say, God, please don't, don't, you know, forgive them? No. But if you are born again by the Spirit and you're walking in the Spirit and you're You're grafted into that line. Without me, you can do nothing. You certainly aren't going to do that. You aren't going to do what Stephen did. But if you're grafted in, you're being sanctified by his spirit, you actually can do that. So God doesn't ask you to do something that you can do naturally. These commands, these gospel commands, love one another, submit to authorities that are unjust, submit to them as unto the Lord, not that you do everything that unjust authorities tell us to do, but to submit to them in a way that is honoring to their office and their calling. If they ask you to do something that's sin, you don't do that. But there is this thing called national judgment. And it is something that we don't often think about, but it is real. So this judgment fell upon Israel, the whole land. And then we have, the next section is the revelation of the judgment. It's because David's a prophet, and because he could get direct revelation from God, we found out what the cause was, what the cause of the judgment was, what was it? David inquired of the Lord, he asked God, God, what's happening here? And the Lord answered, for Saul and his bloody house because he stole the Gibeonites. Bingo. Now we know it's one of many sins that God could have judged Israel for. The nation for it. But he chose that particular sin not to look over it, to cover it. He said, that's a big sin. I'm going to punish the whole nation for it. Interestingly enough, it has to do with the covenant. A 400-year-old covenant, to be exact. God is very concerned about the covenant. We are saved by a covenant. We fell by a covenant. A covenant of works. But we are redeemed by the covenant of grace. Covenants are very important. We know that the revelation of judgment is because David asked. Then we are looking behind the veil. We are looking at the divine courtroom. This is not an ordinary court. What is happening here is not ordinary. You will not see this happen in your local court. Because this is piercing the veil. You are looking behind to see God's governance of the world. And the king called the Gibeonites. and said unto them, Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites. And the children of Israel had sworn unto them. And Saul sought to slay them and his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah. Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the atonement?" Make the atonement. Obviously there's sin here that needs to be atoned for. There's judgment to come. A national judgment. And some people look at this and think, well, the Gibeonites and how they're responding is just vindictive. This is a divine court. God is the one that brought this court in session because of the slaying of the Gibeonites. So David asked the offended party, what happened? What can we do for you? And I believe through the the work of God's Spirit, they did exactly what God wanted to happen, but they revealed it, we're actually being able to see the court proceedings here. And the gibbon and I said unto him, we will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house, neither for us shall thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, what shall you say that will I do for you? And they answered the king, the man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coast of Israel, that seven men of his son, he delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul. And the Lord did she. We will hang them up unto the Lord. This divine judgment was ordained by God. These seven sons. Not the whole nation. These seven sons were going to die. Okay, the divine courtroom. Now the execution of the court order. And the king said, I will give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath that was between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul. David executes this order, and executing this order, another covenant stops and saves Mephibosheth. Because David had a covenant with Jonathan, Saul's son. God holds covenants very seriously. You can't go break them without incurring wrath, if David had broken that covenant, there would be more judgment. David was his best friend. I mean, Jonathan was his best friend. They were soldiers in arms. They fought together. They loved each other dearly. And they made a covenant together. And, you know, Jonathan, you see what a godly man he was. He knew that the kingdom was not going to come to him. But he put his faith in God's choice, the king. He's a man of faith. But the king took, it goes on to explain who the king took. He took seven of his sons. And they fell all seven together, or put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of the barley harvest. And if you skip down to verse 14, it's the last section. Removal of national judgment. And after that, God was entreated for the land. The famine was over. They were forgiven. What can you learn from this section? What can we learn from what has just happened here? First of all, God takes covenants very seriously. He is not someone who makes a covenant and breaks it. He doesn't break covenants, but he's very concerned when we do. In a 400 year old treaty to the Gibeonites, a group, a group of people, that treaty, he held the people accountable. The whole nation was held accountable. But the one who did this, The killing of the Gibeonites was the king. It was in his power to do it, and he did it. Second thing we can learn is God holds nations accountable for the sins of its leaders. Clearly taught. The sins of our leaders, we can pay for that. Leaders themselves are held to a higher standard of judgment. Saul's own offspring were killed because of his sin. He was held to a higher judgment. So the leaders say, well, you know, I can sin all I want. The people are going to pay for it. No. You will pay too. If not in this life, in the one to come. That divine courtroom, you can never escape it. It has sovereign jurisdiction. There's no escape of that courtroom. God is also merciful to national sins. I talked about this earlier. Northern Israel was deported after 209 years of sin. 209 years of sin before God finally deported them and made them destroy that nation. Now here's something that's a little, this is where people who look at this passage really have trouble with the fact that Saul's children had to pay for the sin of Saul. And they always want to say that somehow those children did that sin, that they're guilty of that sin. Well, what's happening here? God has the right to work punishment through generations. He does this to punish covenant heads. What does that mean? In the second commandment it says so. I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate a legal term and hurt of the corruption of blood. You know, if somebody commits a sin or a crime, should courts work the corruption of blood? If, let's say, a father commits murder or is a traitor to his nation, should the nation then punish his whole family, children, grandchildren? Should a human court ever do this? No. Why? They don't have the right to do it. This is a divine court proceeding. This is a divine court. He'll do it perfectly. He's long-suffering. He knows how to do it. But most people are unaware that this court even exists. They say, I got away with it. I did this, and I don't have to worry about my sin. Look, the human court has absolved me. What about the divine one? That one's always in session. And there's mercy, this being, you know, this time of long suffering where he is kind to sinners. 200 years in the case of northern Israel. How long, you know, in our individual cases, he's long suffering. In the case of fathers, we have a special burden to bear because God holds us accountable for our household in a special way. And today, there is a conscientious effort to destroy the headship of the fathers in the home to make them somehow partners. As if God looked at families as an equal division of authority and responsibility between husband and wife. Well, you know, it's a shared responsibility. You know, I had a little background. You might appreciate this, Ben. There is a battle on ships between the captain and the chief engineer, sometimes. And the captain is four stripes. He is the master of the vessel. His name is signed to everything, and everything is his fault. Everything is his fault. But often, chief engineers, think that they're a four-stripe in the same way that the captain is. And they would say, no, we share the responsibility. It's like, not in the law, you don't. Not in the law. It's me. You pump oil over the side. It's me. I have to watch everything. You're chief of the engine room, but you're not We're not a duocracy. It's not like that. If you look at how the chain of command actually works, who can relieve whom? It has to do with, if God is going to hold you accountable, heads accountable, you have to respect the authority, because they're the ones who are going to pay for it. That's how that works. So, God has the right to work punishment through generations. He can do it, and it's a punishment on covenanted heads. Nothing can be more painful for, you know, if you do some sin, and then you have to watch somebody else pay for it. Isn't that fun? The fathers, when we look at, you see fathers who are aware of this principle, they say, wow, my children suffered terribly because of my sin. David, when he solved the sin of the numbering of Israel, why did 70,000 people have to die for my sin? It's a punishment on the covenant head. And it makes covenant heads far more circumspect about their duty before God, because it's on your account. When you ever, I've sailed as captain, when you suddenly realize everything you're signing, you read the things you're signing, you're like, well, this is all my fault. Well, what if the third mate didn't do his job? Whose fault is it? Me. I'm responsible for everything that happens on this ship. Did I check this? Did I have a certain amount of, present to make people do their job. Sometimes it's not even there to say anything, but people know you're looking. And they know that they have the threat of being fired for failure to do. If you do something really bad that's in danger to ship, you're signing off here. Goodbye. And people see that. So don't I get a, listen, if you go back in the days of sail and life is at stake, And it still is, it seems. People die. And if someone falls asleep on watch, it's a terrible thing to happen. Whose fault is it? Well, the third mate fell asleep. It's not my fault. I'm the captain. No, it's my fault for not knowing that that person was irresponsible. You just get them off the ship. You're not mature enough to do this job. I'm firing you. That's it. That judgment is because it's not on your account. It's not on your account, it's on my account. I'm responsible and I'm taking responsibility because it has been placed on me by the owners of the ship. If somebody is doing something dangerous, I need to act on it and not just let it happen. That's another. It has to do with covenant. If you're going to be punished for the sins, If your sins are going to affect those under you, you need to be aware of this as a covenant head. Another thing we can realize from this text is corporate sins, sins of covenant heads, don't transfer guilt. No guilt is transferred. The only time it did was in the case of Adam's first sin. And Adam sinned as the covenant head of the human race, of mankind. The first sin, commonly called original sin, although that's not the first sin. It's original corruption is what happened when he sinned. He sinned as our representative. That first, that fall of mankind is inherited by all of us. And you inherit what? The punishment and the guilt. You're guilty of that sin. But Adam's second sin, the second time he sinned. You're not guilty of that sin. But you can suffer the consequences of it. Because of this covenantal solidarity thing. But it's something to realize is that often what happens is the children of of a covenant breaker often follow their fathers in the same sense. They often do. And that's another sermon we could talk about, but it's not today, is that you can be guilty of the same things that your father is guilty of, and then you're punished with it. What you need to do is to recognize the sins in your family and your nation so that you may be salt and light to those around you, and so that you may not fall into the same judgment, that you will not be judged. God has said, you know, I think it's in Ezekiel it says somewhere about the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are on edge or something like that. And basically it was saying, well, you know, the reason why all this happened is because of our fathers. And they like to blame it on the fathers. No, no, it's actually you. That's one part of it, but you have your own sin to deal with and you're not dealing with it You're just like your father really And that's that's another another way of looking at this Six human courts don't have the right to punish generational sin that belongs to God court God's court He has the sovereign jurisdiction in this court. You know, if you look at Deuteronomy 24 16 fathers are shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers. A person shall be put to death for his own sin. That's a principle of justice. Human courts just cannot do this. But God does. God does this. Another thing we learned is that human courts only deal with present grievances. The Gibeonites had a grievance that happened during their lifetime. Why is this important? Some people labor under past injustices that happened hundreds of years ago and think that there is a present remedy for it. Courts can't do this. Something happened many years ago to your people group, and you're still angry about it. What should you do? Would you try to right that? Should you be bitter about that? I'll give you an example of this. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. You know what that is? Ended the Mexican War in 1848. Ended the war. That's a covenant. That's a covenant. And you can say, you know what? There were some injustices that were done there. You can say, that was not right. What the US did was not right. They stole that land. Therefore, this land belongs to me. and as an individual, you think it belongs to you. And you have a grievance, you've resurrected a grievance against a group that was already dealt with in that covenant. Guadalupe Hidalgo, for now, is the law. It's the covenant. Don't go back there and hold these grievances for the past that has already passed. The failure to respect treaties between nations will lead to bitterness. There's no resolution for this. There's no way to fix this. God protects his own. Number 8. God protects his own. Mishibosheth was buried by David because of his covenant with Jonathan. This isn't always the case. Jonathan died in battle with his father. Battle with his father Saul they fought together and died together To the extent that that it is serves God's purposes. He will do what is best for his glory and our ultimate good We just need to trust him So living righteously and and living under God's government and putting your faith in the in the Messiah as Jonathan did and he saved his son Mephibosheth by doing so. It isn't always the case that that happens. God will one day take us all home. We don't know. We have to leave it up to his sovereign government. It's in his hands. And here's another one. National sins can be forgiven. Forgiven. National sins can be forgiven. We must not be ignorant of Satan's devices. He wants us to wallow in guilt and never be free from it. In verse 14, we see that God's anger was entreated by the death of seven of Saul's sons. His justice was served. And that's the end of it. The justice was served. How many people labor under injustices in the past, either in your lifetime or in your great-grandpa's lifetime? And you feel embittered about it. I think of a case. Some of this happens today with, I call it guilt sliming. You know what guilt sliming is? Guilt sliming is a tool of ideological subversives. When you want to destroy a group, you guilt slime them. You say, you know what? You're guilty of slavery. You personally are guilty of enslaving my people. One thing we know, that guilt doesn't transfer that way. There's no corporate guilt. There's corporate punishment. There isn't corporate guilt, because the sins of your father do not transfer your dirt count, and you're guilty of them. You're not. You can suffer punishment for the sins of your covenant head, father, or nation, but you're not guilty of them. When you guilt slime, you say, well, if your people did this, you're just a slaver. At heart, you really want to enslave people. Therefore, you don't have a right at the table. You can't talk because you're guilty. And this is exactly, this is weaponized guilt. And it's unbiblical. It's unbiblical. And you're forgetting covenants that were made, too. Slavery was abolished in the US in 1866. Done away with. So why are we still resurrecting it over and over again? It's because it's a weapon. And people don't want to let it go, because they can subvert people and subjugate them and say, guess what? We want reparations now. Ooh, generational court. Now you're in a generational court. Now you're going to take money from present generations, and you're not the one that suffered the harm. There's no living person here that suffered the harm. Oh, yeah, but you're trying to do a divine court remedy. That's not what human courts are able to do. They just can't do it. They don't have that jurisdiction. Only God has that jurisdiction. And look at what he did. Slavery in the US was abolished. There were sins involved in the slave trade. Guess what Great Britain did? They were heavily involved in the slave trade. What did they do? Should British citizens be subject to feel guilty about the slave trade today? Well, 1807, they outlawed it. Done. There's no guilt slime there. You know, the people, they're slavery that happens today. Do those people today, are they guilt slimed? Well, they're not targeted for destruction, so they're not. But if you're a group that's targeted for destruction, why not? Just guilt slime them, make them feel guilty. But then you forget that there is forgiveness. There is genuine forgiveness here. You can go in with a situation with colonialism, the colonial powers did all these things, but treaties, there's all these treaties that have been made to bring a new situation about. Past wars. It is a blessing of God that we don't have to fight wars of the past again in every generation. Treaties are the end of them. I know people that can be bitter about what happened in Ireland hundreds of years ago, about what the British did. They eat Cromwell. They hold on to that bitterness and stir it like a pot. I'm so angry at this group of people. And it's like, where's the grace in your heart? God has called us to be free from that kind of bitterness. Leave it to the divine court to deal with these things. There's no human court that can fix this. I guarantee the divine court is a perfect court. He perfectly punishes everybody. He also perfectly is merciful to countries that obviously don't deserve the mercy, but nevertheless he's merciful. All this should drive us to want to be in covenant with this God and to be faithful covenant keepers with this God, that he's that good. And certainly you can watch, you know, look at the sins of a people group and say, boy, that was bad. The Vikings did some terrible things. But should present day descendants of Vikings feel guilty about what they did to England? Should they? Are they guilty? No, they're not guilty. You see, we have enough of our own sin to deal with today. We don't need to resurrect sins hundreds and hundreds of years ago and play them over again. We don't need to refight these wars. It's over. These treaties are a blessing from God that we have them, that they end the war. So often people want to resurrect it and believe in this corporate guilt idea. which is not true. There is no, there isn't any corporate guilt unless you participate in it. If you participated in the actual sin, if you were in government office and you did what the government did, you had a part in it. Often that is not the case. We aren't participants in it. Lastly, a righteous remnant can save a nation. Adam's discussion with God concerning Sodom and Gomorrah. If there were 10, God would have spared those cities. If there were just 10, I won't do it. We must be salty and clean from sins around us so that we can save what exists now. We should be a people that are an asset to a nation. And I mean that in the best sense. If we're salt, we're actually trying to preserve what is there. If a nation is doing wickedness, it isn't for us to say, boy, I hope God just judges that nation. If we're part of that nation, we should weep that these sins are happening. But we should also be salt and light against it. And we also really have to recognize how much the sins around us in our nation have affected us, and they've affected us terribly so. It is our duty to confess that iniquity so that we might know what it is that affects us. That's for another sermon. We must often serve ungodly civil governments, but look at how Daniel served Nebuchadnezzar. He was a loyal subject. Yet he remained free from serving his idols. That's a very difficult thing to do. We must be clean, but in the world too. In the world, but not of the world. Difficult calling it, we've been called to. Sometimes the most ungodly cities drive out all the compromised forms of Christianity, and what remains is pure and undefiled, but often persecuted, sometimes unto death. See the churches in the book of Revelation. Think of Smyrna in Philadelphia. Think of some of the churches that had tremendous persecution, and there was tremendous corruption in the church, yet there was a few that did not stain their robes. They held on. And often this remnant is what prevents God destroying nations or destroying a church. We need to be remnant people, but you can't be remnant people unless you know God's word, unless you know your own personal sin, but also the sins of your group, your nation, your church. You have to know that so that you may not follow them in it. Lastly, the kind of righteousness that saves the nation is gospel-wrought righteousness. Loving those that persecute you is not attainable by human effort. It requires divine agency. And that's why I talked about Stephen. He was a righteous man. And he prayed, Father, forgive them. And it wasn't perfunctory. It wasn't an external Prayer life forgiven. He wasn't just a I'm gonna say this because this is a good thing to say here. He's dying He he it's like Jesus on the cross father forgive them for they know what what they do God's kind even at that point as he's dying. He's kind to sinners He is merciful he is a merciful God and You know, all this mercy, see, it's the mercy and love of God that leads us to repentance if he's that good. You know, you've never met anybody in your life that's that good. But when you meet Jesus, you see his goodness. You know, I think I want to know him. I've never met anybody like that. He knows me inside and out. He knows me better than anybody else. And yet loves you. He loves His people with a perfect love. He loves you from everlasting to everlasting. You know, when you understand God's sovereignty and His divine decrees, there's never been a time where you have not existed in His mind. There's never been a time in all of eternal history, forever and ever, He's known His people. He's known you and He loves you with a perfect love. We should be a people that are salty, serve him in newness, in the spirit. All that can only happen by his redeeming work in our life. We can't do that in our own. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We think of this time of national judgment and corporate sin. And we pray, Lord, that we would be more careful about how we walk, that we would understand the sins that beset us, personally, but also nationally. What encumbrances have been inherited from the people group that we belong to? What propensities of sin do we have because of that? And that we would turn from that, and that we would be light, that we would be truly salty. not by our own power, Lord. We know in our own power we can do nothing. We can't do the first motions of obedience without Your Spirit guiding and directing us, revealing to us our sin, but also revealing to us the mercy, Your mercy in Christ. We pray this week as we go forth that we would be a holy people, that we pray earnestly for national repentance for our work of reformation across the lands that we inhabit. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.