Me and turning in your Bibles to Micah, Chapter six, and as we prepare to read and hear God's word, think about what we have sung a few moments ago. This is an amazing summary of a biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the many different ways that God uses the gift of the Holy Spirit to bless and to strengthen his people. And in the third stanza of the hymn that we sung together a few moments ago, we sang together. He himself, the living author, wakes to life his sacred word, reads with us its holy pages and reveals our risen Lord. And so think of the Holy Spirit reading the very word that he himself has authored along with us here today and in the process of reading this word with us and to us, ultimately revealing Christ. to our faith today. And so we read, first of all, from Micah, chapter six, and then in a few moments, a few verses from second Peter, chapter three. Micah, chapter six, beginning with its ninth verse. Listen, the Lord is calling to the city and to fear your name is wisdom. Heed the rod and the one who appointed it. And I still to forget a wicked house Your ill-gotten treasures and the short, which is a curse. Shall I quit a man with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights? Her rich men are violent. Her people are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully. Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins. You will eat, but not be satisfied. Your stomach will still be empty. You will store up, but save nothing, because what you save, I will give to the sword. You will plant, but not harvest. You will press olives, but not use the oil on yourselves. You will crush grapes, but not drink the wine. You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab's house, and you have followed their traditions. Therefore, I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision. You will bear the scorn of the nations. And then from 2 Peter chapter 3. I'll be reading verses 14 through 16 of 2 Peter chapter 3. Having reminded us that in light of God's promises, we look forward to the new heavens and the new earth, that home where in righteousness dwells. He goes on to say, so then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation. Just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him, he writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other scriptures to their own destruction. This is the word of God, a lamp for our feet. and the light for our path. Please join me in prayer. Our gracious God and heavenly father. We are grateful for the gift of your Holy Spirit, that the fullness of the triune God dwells within our very being to change us, to infuse us with life and to turn our hearts towards you. Lord, we pray that truly the Holy Spirit would read with us the sacred word today, that even as this word is hard and challenging, that he would reveal to us the Lord Jesus Christ, our risen savior, so that in all things we might give him the glory and the honor and the praise as our faith looks up to him as the one who has redeemed us not only from sin's penalty, but also from sin's power. Lord, we are looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth, that home where righteousness dwells, that place where not only sin's power, but sin's very presence will be eradicated forever. And as we look forward to that great day to come, we pray, Lord, that it would have many implications for how we live our lives even here this morning. Be with us, Lord, and strengthen us even through the reading and hearing of your word. we ask in Jesus name. Amen. So since so many resumed their schooling this past week, I thought I'd begin this morning as we think about Micah chapter 6 verses 9 through 16 with an experience that I had beginning my senior year of high school. The English teacher that I had had a well-deserved reputation for being someone who liked to upset the apple cart, liked to work his students hard, liked to challenge them in ways that perhaps they hadn't known to that point in their academic careers. And as I began my studies with this particular teacher, I found that to be the case. And one of the things that he used to like to do was to hand back our essays in a very public fashion. As he would hand them back, he would highlight certain aspects of the essays. Sometimes he would highlight them to commend these aspects of our essays, and sometimes he highlighted them to bring a little bit of old-fashioned scorn and derision upon apathetic kinds of performances. And I'd never experienced anything quite like this, to have my work kind of on display in that fashion. I can remember the first essay that he returned. And as he was returning them to some of my classmates, people I had gone to school with, you know, since kindergarten, they were coming back pretty good. They had done a nice job and he was commending them. Nonetheless, they were mostly B's. I think there may have been an A minus mixed in there somewhere. And then he gets to my paper. He says, Kistler starts tapping his fingers on the desk. He says, Kistler, top of the class, huh? Well, maybe not for long. And he starts to hand it back. He says, see, and then he pulls it back and writes up noises. Make that a C minus. And he hands it back to me. And I realized at that moment that things were going to be different, that he cared in a sense for the way I wrote and thought more than I cared about how I wrote and I thought, and that there'd be a choice from that point forward. Would I be willing to accept mediocrity, would I be willing to accept who I was at that stage? Or would I take his care, his urgency as a cue to increase my desire to grow in that aspect of my intellectual pursuits? Maybe you've had a teacher like that. Those of you who are schooled at home, maybe you have a parent who is a teacher like that, who you realize in light of your studies that this teacher, this parent, in a sense at certain moments may care more than you do about your excellence in math or English or history or science. And there's a question, right? There are options set before you. Will you be willing to follow along and to learn to want excellence even more, or will you just sit back and stay where you are and be happy with where you're at? Really, that's what's on display for us here in Hebrews, excuse me, in Micah, chapter six, verses nine through 16. The reality which is on display that God cares about the personal holiness of his people more than his people do. God has a greater sense of urgency that his people would grow in their excellence in attaining unto personal holiness than very often his own people do. And isn't that what's bound up in these questions that God asks to his people of old? Am I still to forget, O wicked house, your ill-gotten treasures and the short ephah, which is a curse? Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales with a bag of false wings? God is anticipating, as it were, the people's response to the fact that he is telling them that he is to bring a rod of discipline into their lives, where he's anticipating that they might say, God, we're happy with our mediocrity. We are happy in wallowing in complacency in terms of our lifestyle. And God, of course, he reflecting his own righteous and holy character says, shall I still acquit this? Shall I look the other way? Am I to be happy with this kind of moral mediocrity as it's found in the midst of those who bear my name? And God is not willing to accept it. And so he will take drastic measures to encourage his people and to stir up his people and to challenge his people, at times even to rebuke and chastise his people so that they would learn to care about personal holiness as much as he himself, their God does. And so it is that we find in scripture, the trying God very much cares about our personal holiness, about our growth in righteousness. We think of what God says in Leviticus. that Peter repeats in his first epistle. God says, Be holy as I am holy. Be holy, God says, as I am holy. And that repeated in the Old and New Testaments alike. Or we think about the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who came to suffer on Calvary's cross to take away our sin, but who also suffered so that we might die with him to sin, that we might live with him in a life lived for God. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, reminding us, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Jesus telling us that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, we shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus telling us that we must seek first God and his righteousness, his kingdom and his righteousness, and all other things shall be granted to us as well. Jesus clearly desired with urgency that we would pursue, we would hunger after righteousness in our lives. The work of the Holy Spirit. Nehemiah led the people of old to pray a prayer of confession, and in that prayer of confession, as it's found in Nehemiah chapter nine, Nehemiah acknowledges that God, through his spirit, by the prophets admonished his people. The Holy Spirit involved in the prophetic ministry, even the ministry of Micah here laid before us in calling the people back from their waywardness from God, that they might live in increasing holiness before his sight. The Holy Spirit who contends, who opposes the sinful nature, that which is rebellious within us, calling upon us to walk in his ways rather than producing the works of the flesh. Oh, Father, Son and Holy Spirit all have a great urgency and passion to see us grow in personal holiness. Where does that fall on our daily list of priorities? And we would be made mindful that this is not simply the fact that God has a set of stipulations, rules that he wants us to learn or kind of hurdles that we need to learn how to jump over or things we need to learn how to jump through. The reason God is so urgent, cares so much about our growth and holiness is really revealed in Romans 8, 29, where Paul tells us that those who he foreknew God predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son so that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brothers. God cares so much about our personal holiness because he would exalt the glory of his son, Jesus Christ, and he would exalt it by conforming us to be like Jesus so that Jesus would be multiplied. Jesus' character, Jesus' glory would be multiplied into the universe. He has predestined us to salvation for this ultimate purpose, that we would shine forth the likeness of Christ Jesus, our Redeemer. So where does this priority come up in your life? Each and every day, as God looks at your life, he says, today, it is my passion. It is my desire to see Tom, to see David, to see Eric, to see Keith, to see Dan, to see Charlotte, to see Kate grow to become more like Jesus. As the alarm goes off and your feet hit the floor, what are you thinking about? Where are your goals? Where are your thoughts? In the top 10, is there any room in the top 20 to say my goal today is to be more like Jesus? Was that passion, that urgency, which is on display here in Micah chapter 6? And what we find here really is God's willingness when his people are not responsive to that call to avail themselves of this grace to grow in personal holiness, the willingness that God has to employ drastic measures to challenge them, to rebuke them, to chasten them so that they might see the error of their waywardness and make personal holiness a priority in their lives. Notice what is said here in verse nine, listen, call to us all. Listen, the Lord is calling to the city to fear your name is wisdom, heed the rod and the one who appointed it. God here is talking about a fatherly rod, it's not a rod of judgment. God is no longer a judge towards his people, but God is a father who will discipline his people. And he says here, because you've been unresponsive, you've not been willing to heed reproof. Now I must use the rod to gain your attention, to soften your heart, to help you to see the error of your ways and the consequences of sin so that you might be restored to the path of righteousness. God here willing to use a rod. What is the rod? Well, we find it later on, don't we? Beginning in verse 14. You will eat, but not be satisfied, your stomach will still be empty, will store up, but save nothing, because what you save, I will give to the sword. The rod here is clearly the Assyrian armies. And later on, the rod would be the Babylonian armies. What is on display here is God's willingness to use these foreign nations, these hostile powers to chase in his people, to arouse them from their spiritual lethargy. So it might be their great priority to live like and to look like their God, their covenant God. more and more in their lives. So think about Psalm 80 that we read responsibly earlier on in our service, where, as Ailish pointed out, there is this restraint to restore us, that we might see your face, revive us, God. They were in a place of lowliness and declension in their spiritual lives. They were in the place that because of that, what did God do? He made them drink bowlfuls of tears, he made them eat the bread of tears. He brought them into a place of mourning, not because he despised them, but because he loved them so desperately, it would not simply let them go on their way on and sought after. But he called out to them, even through their suffering and pain, that they might be restored and revived and call out to him afresh. And so we see this in the New Testament, don't we? We see it in the book of Hebrews, when Hebrews chapter 12 tells us that we are not to make light of the Lord's discipline, that discipline that might not seem pleasant at the time, which always, however, brings forth the fruit of peace and righteousness. We see it, don't we, when the Apostle Paul approaches a particular church that was very hard hearted and says to them, how shall I approach you then? When I show up in your midst, how shall I come to you? Shall I come with a whip or some versions have a rod or shall I come with gentleness and kindness? Paul says, I'll do whatever is needed based upon your response to God and his word. And if I need to come with a fatherly whip, with a fatherly rod, that is how I am willing to come. We think of the book of Acts. God used the complaining of widows. To chase in the apostles who have been serving tables rather than dedicating themselves to the ministry of the prayer ministry of prayer and the word to chase them through that mechanism of complaint so that they would reprioritize and raise up deacons would be able to serve these bodily needs of those who were truly without. God used in the book of Acts death. Ananias and Sapphira were stricken down when they lied to the Holy Spirit in the presentation of the monies received from the sale of their property. God used the rod of blindness upon Saul, striking him down on the road to Damascus. This one who had been persecuting the church and as the voice from heaven declares, to persecute the church is to persecute even the person of Jesus. Saul saw, why are you persecuting me? Because Jesus, the head, is always bound up. with those who are united to him as his body. And he was stricken blind there on that road. And that was a rod. That was a rod. And so it is the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth can remind them that because of their attitude towards those Lord's Supper, some of them were sick. Some of them had fallen asleep. A euphemism for death in Christ. because of their callous attitude towards the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. And lest we think that this is always done in an immediate way, God's hand bearing the rod, even upon his church. Paul earlier on speaks about how they ought to expel the immoral brother through church discipline. And that is a rod as well. That difficult act of church discipline where one who persistently living as a non-Christian must be cast out of the assembly of God's confessing people. And so we see in these things God's willingness to use even hard measures, drastic measures to help you and me aspire to grow in holiness, that we might be like Jesus. Now, we find here, don't we, a number of indications that God is always patient. and purposeful as he uses the rock. Now, listen to the patience here on display, first of all, in verse nine. Listen, he says, the Lord is calling or crying out to the city. Now, that's part of God's patience. The fact that he is calling for people to listen, the fact that he has been endeavoring to communicate The importance that they would lay aside their sin and embrace this life giving paths. Now, how has God been doing this? How has God been crying out? How has God been a herald calling forth holiness from his people? He's been doing so even through the prophets whom he raised up and appointed. And in this day, Micah and Isaiah and others were among the prophets whom God had empowered by his spirit. to admonish his people. That's part of God's patience. We don't know, in that sense, how Micah delivered these oracles. We don't know if he would have a great crowd assembled around him so that he literally would have had the shout to be heard. Maybe he delivered them in the quiet spaces directly to the elders of the people. What we do know is whether they were delivered with small volume or great, that through these words, God was patiently calling forth from his people a response. And it was as though the God of the universe himself was personally calling out. That's what God is doing right now, as we hear and by his spirit, heed his word as part of his patience, evidenced in your life and in mine, that he would be a gentle teacher, that he would be willing to shout out to you, listen to me. Don't listen to the world. Don't listen to your friends. Those friends are not leading you in my ways. Don't listen to Satan. Don't even listen to yourself. If in anything, you cross paths with what I have for you in the truth of my word, that's part of God's patience. Won't you receive his crying, his calling out to you today, but also notice the patience on display in verse 10, where he says, Am I still to forget it? a wicked house, your ill-gotten treasures. In other words, there has been a period of time where God has been forbearing with this injustice in their midst that we'll talk more about in just a moment. In other words, the very first moment that this kind of behavior evidenced itself, God didn't pounce. God didn't jump on them right away, but he has given them room. He's given them a buffer. He's given them opportunity. even as he cries out to them to realize that what they have done is wrong and to respond and to seek his grace and to say, Lord, forgive me, have mercy on me, a sinner. This is exactly what Peter says in our reading from Second Peter, chapter three, God's patience is meant to lead you to repentance. Right. When God forbears with us, it's not that he's giving approval to our sin. Right. Maybe we commit a sin. And we know it's wrong. And our consciences are disturbed. They were disturbed even before we did it. And then after we committed that sin, that we know it's wrong, it's a clear cut, our consciences are even more aflutter. But then we sit back and we wait for the storm clouds to form. And we wait for the lightning strike. And we wait for the voice of God, the thunder, to say, what you did was wrong. The clouds don't form. And the lightning doesn't flash. And the thunderous voice doesn't echo. And we say, well, maybe it wasn't so bad after all. That is the exact opposite response that we're supposed to have. The fact that God doesn't thunder immediately is because he's patient with us. He's giving us room. He's giving us space so that we might say, oh, I want to follow my conscience. I don't want to quench the Holy Spirit. I've been disturbed by this activity. And now instead of bringing all kinds of consequences on me immediately, God has given me patiently a little bit of room to maneuver. But it's not because he's complacent. Because he would give me the occasion. to recognize and to repent for what I've done. There's patience here. It's wonderful patience on God's part. But he's also very purposeful here, isn't he? Verse nine, heed the rod and the one who appointed it. So if the rod is the Assyrian armies, God is saying, remember, not only that these circumstances are going to happen, and again, he describes them later on in terms of The fact they won't have enough to eat, the things they try to acquire will be stolen away from them. In other words, there's going to be some really hard things that they're going to have to deal with. He says it's not only the rod itself that you need to reckon with. You have to realize that it's being wielded. This is not arbitrarily happening. This is not simply a political event. It's not part of the rise and fall of nations abstractly considered, but it's part of what God is doing here. He's appointed a serious ascendancy to serve as a rod of discipline towards his people. In other words, what God is saying is this is on purpose. And he's giving them at least a little bit of a grid for interpreting his providence. So then those who have faith would say, this is not simply something that is happening. And I happen to be on the wrong page of history. You know, if my life had been on the previous page or the page after, everything would have been happy. But instead, I'm on this page where an army is invading and now everything is unhappy in my life. It's all pulling apart. Rather, God is saying this is going to be pointed. It's purposeful. And so we know that everything in our lives is purposeful. Romans 8.29, that I mentioned a few moments ago, those who God is foreknown, he's predestined to be conformed to the likeness of the Son, is of course preceded by Romans 8.28. God works all things together for good for those who know him, who are called according to his purposes. Right? So God works it all together for good for those who love him, those who are called according to his purposes. What is his purpose? His purpose is to make us more like Jesus. And so we can interpret every part of God's providence that way. Everything that transpires is part of his purposes to make me more like Christ. Every cross that I'm called to bear. Every moment when I'm called to suffer for his namesake. And remember that the apostles counted it a privilege to suffer for his namesake. Every struggle is a struggle that makes me less earthly minded and should make me more heavenly focused. Everything about life. God has given us the key to understanding life for the Christian. It's all good insofar as it all makes us more like Christ. And so there's purposefulness. But then there's purpose then when these kinds of hard moments come. And we begin to evaluate our lives. And we say, is there a cause and effect here? Does this unprecedented struggle, does this unexpected difficulty, is there something behind it? It's not just part of the general sorts of ways that God is using everything to make me more like his son. But is there some reason in me that God has brought this about? That's part of how we need to look at our lives, knowing God to be purposeful in all things. So this God who is patient and purposeful will confront Cheating, violence, deceit, and compromise in our lives. I've inserted another word there from what's on the printed handout. Cheating, violence, deceit, and compromise. We need to think about each of these things for just a brief moment. Think about how it is that God will confront cheating in our lives. That's what's here in verses 10 and 11. Am I still to forget a wicked house, your ill-gotten treasures, and the short ephah, which is a curse? shall I quit a man that dishonest scales with a bag of false weights. We think about cheating and we often think about someone getting a false advantage academically. So I saw a headline this past week that Half of incoming freshman students at Harvard admit to having cheated in some way in their academic careers already to this point. So we think about cheating in the academic realm, getting credit for something that really isn't your work. Or we think about cheating, a false advantage athletically. In baseball, of course, it's all the rage to talk about who has been on PEDs, performance enhancing drugs, steroids, human growth hormone. A-Rod is playing again for the Yankees, but he faces the prospect of a 211-game suspension after his time of appeal is over. Why is that? Because of proof that he's used performance-enhancing drugs, and in that sense has cheated to gain a false advantage. But here we find that cheating, particularly in the financial realm, the idea being that people would have false weights. so that if they were selling something, maybe they would pull a lightweight out of their bag. And instead then of giving someone 10 apples for the coin, because of the lightweight, they would only give them 8 apples for the coin. Or if they were the one purchasing, maybe they would pull out a heavyweight from their bag, so that instead of getting 10 apples for their coin, they would try to convince the one selling to them that they ought to have 12 apples for their coin. Economic cheating. a call to us when we go to Wegmans and go to the ball, right? Even says there's a sign, at least at our Wegmans right there on the scale, right? You're not supposed to let go of the bag, right? When you're weighing it Because the idea is, maybe you pour your cashews into the bag, or your pistachios, and you kind of just keep your hand on the bag, on the scale, so just give it a little bit of help there, instead of it being three quarters of a pound, it's only half a pound when you hit the button to print the price, right? We're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to hide something on the bottom shelf of the cart. you know, the big bag of kitty litter or whatever it is, hoping that the person, the clerk at the counter, won't see that you've put it down there, you're ready to roll out of the store. And they say, wait a second, I didn't scan that item. We're not allowed to cheat economically. When we contract with somebody, we fulfill and bill only for the hours that we have fulfilled. We have a business or we run a department. We have to realize that even if it means a hit to our own personal reputation, that if losses are attributable to us, that we don't pass them on to anyone else. We need to make sure that we fulfill our financial obligations. There's so many occasions in our present world to get out from under loans and debts of one sort or another. We have to realize that if we get out from underneath our debts, that hurts the person who was our creditor. We don't just It doesn't evaporate in thin air. Somebody doesn't get what they have deserved. And, of course, we look to Christ, Jesus, who throughout the Gospels, interestingly enough, was willing to pay the taxes, was willing to do what was required. After all, as he said, give to Caesar what Caesar's give to God. What is God's? There is integrity there, even in not cheating. But not only will God confront cheating, he will confront violence. Verse 12, for rich men are violence. And here again, I think it's violence in terms of economic realities. It's not just violent tendencies. But violent tendencies related to economic transactions, most likely. The idea being that through this violence, maybe you can manipulate circumstances to suit you financially, economically. Maybe a little bit like the Jerusalem Mafia here. You know, the threat that if you don't pay up, you're going to have your legs broken by, you know, by whoever, you know, the guy who's going to show up and get in the mailbox, you know, the Black Rose or whatever the mafia boss would send to say, my guys are coming for you. A violence related to getting what you want. Now, this may seem very esoteric for most of us. But maybe we could apply this in terms of our perhaps willingness to use violence to manipulate other kinds of circumstances in our lives. Are we willing to use angry outbursts? Are we willing to use a reputation for being unapproachable? Are we willing to use fear on the part of other people that if they ask us the wrong question, we're just going to blow up in their faces? In order to get what we want from them, would we manipulate things because of a violent tendency or proclivity? Maybe that is exactly the application for us. Jesus, again, though at certain moments he demonstrated hostility towards sin. There were moments where he took up a whip, didn't he, to chase out those lending and buying there in the court of the temple. And yet at the same time, Jesus disposition, that of meekness, and gentleness even towards those who accused him of doing wrong instead of violence to manipulate circumstances. May we be gentle and meek like Christ and also hear deceit. God will confront deceit. Her people are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully. They've been living deceitfully, right? Those false weights the short ephah, which is a dry measure that really wasn't as voluminous as it ought to have been. That was a form of deceit in terms of their activity. Now, he says it's a very short distance then to cover between deceitful activity and deceitful words. And again, here, we think in terms of economic activity, we realize that telling the truth is really one of the pillars, one of the bedrocks of all society. Telling the truth is not only an issue of making sure that you tell the truth to mom and dad about when you got home and whether or not it was past curfew, but if we can't depend upon what we say to one another, and agreements that are made, and promises that are extended, that there's a sense in which all interpersonal reliability is broken down, and there's a sense in which there is really no foundation for any kind of social interaction, whether it be a family, or a church, a business or a community, all of a sudden, if we are not able to keep our word, we're unwilling to make our promises in faith, then all of a sudden all grounds for being able to predict each other's behavior has been broken down. There are social implications to the words we speak. Do you see how important your words are? The words that a husband and wife speak. the time of their marriage, the words that are spoken when people join the church, the words that are spoken when elders and deacons are ordained and installed, the words that are spoken when contracts are signed, the words that are spoken when commitments are made to do schoolwork. These words are important. And Jesus always kept his word. and called upon us, likewise, to be people who would be known as those whose yes is yes and no is no. And then finally, you also confront compromise. He says here, you've observed the statutes of Omri, the practices of Ahab's house. You've followed their traditions. And of course, these were leaders among the northern people, and they were known for their compromise. They were known for importing foreign religious practices and foreign moral principles into the fabric of God's people. They were compromised. They were living in conformity with the world around them. And here God describes this kind of lifestyle in terms of commandment and precept and tradition, the same sort of ways that God himself would seek to mold us and shape us after his law. He says there's a lot of work in the world and it likewise is exerting pressure. And we think again about that straight paraphrase of Romans chapter 11. Don't let the world press you into its mold. Romans chapter 12, excuse me. Don't let the world press you into its mold. And so we must be those who are shaped after Christ and not the world at large. We must not compromise. And so for just one moment, see then that his rod may include futility in our labors and disrespect from our neighbors. He says here, beginning in verse 14, you will eat, but not be satisfied. Your stomach will still be empty. You'll store up, but what you store up, you won't be able to use. And this is what the commentators call a judgment of futility. They're going to put a lot of effort into things, but the particular way that God would chasten them is by letting them see that all of their effort will produce nothing of benefit. And so it is that we think about how it is that we are placed in a world of futility. Right. This present age, the creation is subjected to futility in hope by the one who is so subjected. And so we look around the world and we realize so much utility exists. We try so hard and yet never, ever seem to be able to get ahead. There are general sorts of futility that we all experience. We get the peach from wetness. We look at it one day, and it's hard as a rock. So I have to wait for it for tomorrow. Put it in the brown bag. We get out of bed early in the morning. We're like, I can't wait to eat my peach today. And between yesterday, it was hard as a rock. Now it's mush in the bag. You say, wait a second here. When could I have eaten my peach? And you say, this is beautiful. I just want to be able to have this peach, the juice dripping down my face, because I want to be able to enjoy this wonderful fruit. And it's all beautiful. I've been growing tropical hibiscus. And at one point in the summer, some of the leaves began to turn yellow. So I got online and said, why are the leaves, I didn't do exactly this, but why are the leaves of my hibiscus turning yellow? And I got a response from one website. It said, hibiscus are really easy to grow. When their leaves turn yellow, they're trying to tell you something's wrong. What are they trying to tell you? Well, that they're getting too much water or too little water. They're getting too much sun or too little sun. They're getting too much fertilizer or not enough fertilizer. They're too hot or they're too cold. I'm saying, boy, this is like walking on a tightrope to get these things healthy. Doesn't it seem like life is like that? We're always walking on a tightrope, and at any moment we're going to fall over and the leaves of our lives are just going to suddenly turn yellow and start dropping off because something isn't right. We experience futility, but here is a sense of futility being accentuated. God's saying it will feel like you are the proverbial gerbil running on the wheel. You are proverbially there on the treadmill, always huffing and puffing, but at the end of the day saying, where in the world have I gotten? And when we experience that, what he's saying is you need to examine your life. This may not be just the general futility that all people experience in a broken world. Maybe God's trying to tell us something. Maybe he's trying to call out and cry out to us a futility, but also then enclosing disrespect from our neighbors. Therefore, I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision. You will bear the scorn of the nations. Now, there are those moments, of course, when people will scorn us precisely because we're living like Christ. But there are also those moments where the world scorns us precisely because we're not living like Christ. First Peter talks about how it is that we should live such godly lives among the pagans that though they accuse us of doing wrong, that they would have nothing to say against us. If we are living like Jesus, there would be this sense of hollowness in every accusation, there would be this sense of dissatisfaction. Anything that they lay at our feet really isn't something for which we deserve criticism. But there are those moments when the world inherently recognizes we are not living like Christ. And then they're scorned. The hit that a reputation takes at the Church of Jesus is well deserved. Now, I could never write bumper stickers. Because I use way too many words to get across what I want to get across. But I saw a bumper sticker the other day that I will not be able to repeat exactly, but it gets this exact idea across to us. Something along the lines of same-sex marriages ruin marriage. Just ask the 50% of Baptists who get divorced. It is exactly that. But the idea was, of course, The church is complaining about the reality of same-sex marriage that is making inroads into our culture. But even as we're complaining, people are divorcing here and there, the drop of a hat. There's an ironic sense in which they are playing at the feet of the church, blame, very real blame for the destruction of God's institution. And so here's a reminder. Sometimes the world is going to mock us because we are like Jesus. But if the world's mockery And scorn begins to ring true. Then what we should do is hear that as God's voice. Can God use a newspaper editorial? Yes, he can. Can God use an atheist? Yes, he can. Can God use someone who hates the church, despises Christianity? Yes, he can. We don't always consider the source simply because of the source doesn't mean it's not true. It doesn't mean we shouldn't listen to and heed The criticism that the shoe fits, we must be humble and wise to wear it no matter who has put it at our feet. So what we find here are drastic measures. God's willingness to use challenges, hard things. Why would he do it? It's because he doesn't love us. No, he loves us very much. But you know what? He loves someone even more than he loves you. He loves his son. And his great zeal, the great zeal of God, is to see his son glorified and honored above all, that his name will be higher than all other names, that in his name every knee would bow, that his name will be the one confessed by every tongue, by every set of lips. And it's because he loves Jesus so much that he wants you to be like him. And he'll do anything, anything at all that it takes. To work that work in your life. Please join me in prayer. Father, we pray. That we would listen as you cry out to us. That we would accept even your rod of chastening. Knowing that it is not because you despise us that it comes, but because precisely you love us and you treat us as daughters and sons. Make us responsive. Help us to heed the rod and you who appointed it. And not be given over to hardness of heart or complacency in our spiritual lives. Lord, we would dare to ask. That this very day we would grow to care as much about our personal holiness and sanctification. Even as you yourself do. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Our closing song this afternoon is found on the second panel of your worship bulletin. It's the scripture chorus sanctuary, and we will sing this brief prayer for sanctification two times through. Let's stand. And we thank thee Good and holy, kind and true, with thanksgiving, love we now give thee. Lord, prepare me in sanctuary, full and holy, high and true. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body Be kept blameless of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Amen.