New Life OPC Williamsport, PA

e now e e e e e running a minute or two late here but at least the uh Sanctuary is full now we are continuing our study of the Westminster Confession of Faith which is in the Himel so if you want to get out the brown or rust colored Himel you could look on page 928 we're just going to very quickly wrap up 15 from last week and start on 16 as well I guess I should get a Himel too and probably also a [Music] Bible okay all right let me pray for us father I probably speak for others in the congregation when I confess that um I've been running around like a crazy man the last several days and having a hard time getting settled this morning um perhaps some of us have even been doing that the first couple hours of the day today so help us now now as we um we're trying to focus on your word um to open our ears and receive nourishment challenge Comfort we pray too that you might prepare us for worship he would help our brother Josh who's preaching on Song of Solomon never an easy uh topic to cover and give us ears for that as well please bless this the all AG Sunday school which I think is now um in its last week or to and um please guide us through this talk we ask in jesus' name amen well the westmin confession of Faith uh sums up what the Bible teaches in 33 relatively short chapters and we are just finishing up repentance and we got through most of that but then we got on to something at the very very end and I wanted to just say one more thing about it which is it's kind of a repeat but I think it's worth going into because I was a little ill prepared to discuss it last week so we talked about the necessity of repentance we talked about how um it's almost as important as Faith it's hard to have even proper faith in Christ and God the Father without repentance we also talked about how true repentance um it's almost like you need to believe that forgiveness is there or your repentance kind of goes quickly South and leads to despair okay and then it says in number in section five here to repent of particular sins particularly and not just to utter some platitude about what a terrible sinner you are and then section six talks about confessing sins to one another so let's read both of those okay Doug can you read five for us and then Dan would you read six for us on page 928 men ought not to content themselves with a general repentance but it is every man's duty to Endeavor to repent of his particular sins particular as every man is bound to make private confessions of his to God praying for the pardon thereof which forsaking of them he shall find Mercy so he that scandalizes his brother or the Church of Christ ought to be willing by a private or public confession and sorrow for his sin declare his repentance to those that are offended for their and love to receive him I was thinking that's a pretty tough word to say be nice to eventually get to a point where we took those old eths off the uh our verbs because that's not even those words aren't even in the dictionary anymore all right so we did get through that and you can see that um they're talking about in particular if there is a sin of a public nature let's say there's two guys at the fellowship dinner that start quarreling and they almost come to blows they're yelling at each other um and all the church is all standing around and sees this well eventually they will need to be reconciled to one another but they Pro they probably should make a confession of that to the church as well so that um the church is not scandalized and the church and part of that is for the church to recognize this is not normal behavior if there's a bunch of if there's a few 5-year-olds standing around thinking this is the way adults normally should interact they need to know that it was a sin so there's a sense in which the more public the sin is and the more people in the congregation it involves the more public should be the confession okay and then if there's one individual that you've um offended against just between the two of you you can deal with that between the two of you and we've talked about that and then it also winds up by saying that um there is a um compell commandment to forgive one another when someone has asked and said to you I I did this terrible thing and I'm I'm I'm really sorry that I did it will you forgive me um then uh based on the Lord's Prayer and many other verses and the fact that the Lord has forgiven you for much much much worse sins you are very much compelled uh and urged to forgive that person to be reconciled to him and in love to receive him okay so at the very end combining five and six I was trying to suggest that um it's also a good idea on a somewhat limited basis to be able to confess your sins even if it's not something that I did to you and therefore there's some problem between us that needs to be resolved or forgiven but just to have a couple of other people in your life or maybe even several that you you can go to and confess your sins to particular sins now I wrote a whole book on this it's called transparency so I'm not going to I'm not and we talked about this in here this actually is based on a Sunday school class that we uh spent about a year and a half on in here so I'm not going to beat this to death but it is it's not super easy to find Bible verses that urge you to confess particular sins to one another that don't necessarily involve personal offense like let's say that I've got a drinking problem it would probably be a good idea for me to have a couple of people who know about that drinking problem maybe even several people and that I can go to and say hey last weekend I fell off the wagon you got you got to pray it's a terrible sin I don't need you to forgive me for this but I need you to help me and pray for me so that you're not running around or walking around um alone with your sin as it were which is what the devil wants you to be if he can keep you alone with your sin there's shame there you don't want to tell anybody about it and that that just makes the sin worse that is not how you sever sin however there are two verses there's James 5 confess your sins to one another we don't even have to read it that's what it says it's very very simple James 5 and it doesn't that does not appear to be limited to just sins that are interpersonal personal in nature and then there's first John 1 which we read last week but we're going to read it again so let's take a look at that can we go there and you'll forgive me we we we talked about this last week but I wanted to expand on a little bit um most of us probably know nine and maybe 10 but most of us probably know number nine maybe even 8 and N verses 8 and N but that's part of a whole passage so I went all the way back to verse five and maybe we can have somebody read those six verses for us any volunteers there for this sizable chunk of scripture Mara would you this is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light and in him is no Darkness at all if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness we lie do not practice the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us of all un righteousness we say we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us okay so even from here it's a little bit hard to extrapolate and say well this is talking about public confession of sins but there is the word in verses 8 and 10 say which usually implies talking out loud you know you can say things to yourself and you can say to God say things to God but generally we understand that has to do with verbal articulation to say something and um the context of chapter one is fellowship the word Fellowship is is here four times and it's it's twice and it's it's in the earlier part of the chapter that we didn't read and then it's twice in this passage um fellowship with him and then it says fellowship with one another and the reason I wanted to expand on this a little bit is when I was writing my book that was my context for this and I was trying to suggest that this is this H does have to do with your demeanor towards others do you say or assume or act like you don't have any sins when you're around other people um but I couldn't really find too many Bible commentators on 1 John 1 who went in that direction with it but then last week we were talking about this and Cindy said well that's all in Dane ortland new book deeper well I haven't read that book yet I'm always behind in my uh in in the latest Christian book so I looked at up he's got like three pages on that in here uh yeah good Joe where did I put that here it is so I thought that was really interesting because I I wish this book had been around when I wrote my book on transparency he has a lot to say about that and I'm going to read a little bit of it just because it was um it was very encouraging me to me to find this he says um when you trust God enough to speak your sinfulness to another human the channels of your heart are open to feeling forgiven this is because the same Pride that stops us from confessing our sins to a brother or sister also hinders our belief in the gospel Pride hinders Fellowship horizontally and vertically evading honesty with another Christian is more fundamentally a rejection of the Gospel itself furthermore refus to be honest with one another is Works righteousness in Disguise that's a good sentence I like that and he also says are oftentimes our Idol idolatrous Pursuits sexual immorality overindulgence in alcohol social media excesses these are all simply misplaced longings for human fellowship and he says says how do you really achieve Fellowship first John 1 he comes right out and says it what does it mean his subhead is walking in the light from 1 John 1 what does it mean to walk in the light walking in the light in this context is honesty with other Christians boom he just lays it right on the line there and the and if you don't mind that I don't usually read a whole page but he's got this Bon hoofer quote that I mentioned last week as well in here so I'm going to read a page to you now verse 10 Returns to the point that verse 8 made if we say we have not sinned apparently walking in the light is confessing our sinfulness and walking in the darkness is hiding this light in this context is not primarily avoiding sin but acknowledging it after all even if verse seven concludes with an assurance of cleansing a natural reminder of walking in the light earlier in the verse refers to confessing our sins you are restricting your growth if you do not move through life doing the painful humiliating and liberating work of cheerfully bringing your failures out from Darkness into the light of acknowledgement before brothers and sisters in the darkness your sins fester and grow in the light they wither and die walking in the light in other words is honesty with God and with others and then he quotes from Bon Hofer a book called life together which we actually read read here when we were looking at transparency this is Bon Hofer he who is alone with his sin is utterly alone it may be that Christians notwithstanding corporate worship common prayer and all their fellowship and service may still be left to this loneliness the final breakthrough to Fellowship does not occur because although we have fellowship with one another as Believers and as devout people we do not have Fellowship as the UND devout and as Sinners our Pious Fellowship permits no one to be a sinner so everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from the church we dare not be Sinners many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous so we remain alone with our sin living in lies and hypocrisy so that's two men way smarter than ortland and Bon Hofer who are urging you from first John to confess your sins to one another um so I just wanted to tag that on here at the end of chapter 15 um and of course this is all in my book this doesn't mean taking all of your sins and dumping them I wouldn't get up here before what there's probably 40 people in here and now and make a list of all the sins that I've committed that's just airing your dirty laundry and it doesn't help anybody um but on the other hand you can't be alone and never talk to anybody about it um because that's what that's what the devil wants you to do he wants you to stay in your shame and then the guilt and sin just get worse instead of better so I've been blabbing on here for a good six or seven minutes up here any thoughts on that or any other thoughts on on sharing um maybe if you even have a thought of why it's so very difficult to do that or why we don't do it enough or maybe you maybe you've had an experience of this that you could talk about I didn't want to say too much more about that but we open it up for a minute if anybody has a thought Emily I wonder if it's a little bit harder for us to share this kind of stuff with each other now and easier easier to effectively hide it because we're not actually like seeing each other all the time and living together in a small community or Y um how people used to live all the time you used to just see your people in your village or whatever and actually living life with them and that yeah that's that's interesting to you know try to figure out how that works in the modern life but it doesn't it's not the same yeah and so it's very easy to conceal what we're struggling with and it takes a lot of energy and effort to be the one to bring that into the life it's not like people are going to stumble upon it as easily I think yeah and it's yeah and immediately I was thinking this is why your spouse knows all your sins because you you spent an enormous amount of time with that person so there's a couple of corollaries there um and immediately one of the two corollaries fled from my brain perhaps it will come back eventually but the main one I was thinking of is um if if all you do is come to church for 90 minutes on a Sunday then then it's definitely going to be much harder for you to be more open with people because you're just you're just not developing that connection the church has a lot of other venues and fellowship activities during the week and many of them are smaller and less public than this you might have nine people in a Bible study or something and might be a lot easier to share something there than here so the more connected you are with the church um and I think Emily was saying if I heard you right that um that might even have been a cultural thing that back in the past with with Village Life and the church right there in the middle of the Town um maybe there was more of a fabric of that shared Fellowship now and then I couldn't help thinking that you know when we talk about our separation and isolation I think social media contributes to that too because there's very much a sanitized version of you that is prevented on presented on social media and this does not help you to confess your sins at all if you have 13 pictures of yourself and you pick the best one and put it up there you are falling into into that trap uh that Bon harer is talking I saw some other hands too Linda being intentional in your actions too it's easy to get caught up in our daytoday and our busyness and I know when I was on stay at home mom I didn't have time to necessarily sit down and fellowship with other women now I have more time and it's easier for me to do that but to pick one two three people that you can say can we just spend an hour together and and work at that relationship where you're comfortable enough to say Hey you know I have a problem with this yeah but it really it it is intentional yeah and and it's um it's ALS it also requires reduced numbers naturally which you refer to sometimes even just oneon-one I see a lot of other hands Doug you had your hand up a minute ago or say you can't have a I don't think you can have a conversation about this without um having a conversation about what the reaction of the person who's receiving that confession yeah like oh I have a problem with shoplifting oh don't worry about it I robbed the V this kind of this kind of stuff it's uh if the person feels strongly enough to confess their sin then you can't poo poo it for one thing you can't poo poo it and downplay it for one thing and also on the you've got to be able to uh comfort that person and remind them of right the goodness of Christ and and and forgiveness you know it's it's a process yeah so there actually is a whole chapter in my book on how to react when someone is and the two pitfalls which I think you covered both of them are you can either downplay it and say oh that's no big deal which is not what the person needs because they it was probably hard enough for them to come to you and tell you about this or you can go you know and act horrified um usually usually the reaction is this you mean you struggle too with something like this like I I always thought you had it all together and like that I was the one with all the problems uh Len you had your hand up a couple times so I'm goingon to go I'm G to go over it even though a lot of other people have it up I just I was here last week so I don't know whether we didn't cover much last week of this particular topic is I think that from the Old Testament we have a really valuable lesson in Jonah 3 Jonah I'm going to read that as well and the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time go to the great city of N and Proclaim to it the message I give you Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh now Nineveh was a very important city the visit required three days on the first day Jonah started into the city he proclaimed 40 more days and it minut will be overturned and this is where Emily's reference to isolation away from Community uh is different now but here we're in the in the Heart of the City and everyone can hear the message everyone 4 more days in Nineveh will be overturned the ninevites believed God they declared a fast and all of them from the greatest to the least put on sackcloth when the news reached the king of Nineveh he rose from his throne took off his Royal robe covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his Nobles do not let any or beast or herd or Flop taste anything do not let them eat or drink but let man call urgently on God let them give up their evil ways and their violence who knows God May yet relent and with compassion turn from his Fierce anger so that we will not perish and finally God when God saw what they had what they did and how they turned from their evil ways he had compassion and did not bring upon them destruction he had threatened this is you know a a city a great City unanimously repentant of the sin against God and even naming the sin of violence the king names that particular sin yeah yep that's remarkable uh John you had your hand up too um I was just thinking part of the problem that's why we don't share is we're afraid people judge us and um usually those sins that we really do need to share with someone else and you know have support with they come from multiple small little steps and those earlier steps are the ones that we should really be talking to people about oh we wait till those sins that seem so egregious that when you share them with somebody it's and have a lot of examples of you know patients who say that what they do in their addiction and you know whereas the problem started way before we with these little steps that just took them down this path where um once they do share it's very hard enough to up all about that and and I think we should as much as possible think about those you know the lack of intimacy maybe with a wife which leads to you know adultery and then or whatever we ought we ought to be sharing L before we get to those egregious yeah and I'm thinking too that you know you're talking about people in their addiction maybe they've been institutionalized or they're you know they committed a crime and got arrested so you get to the point where you don't have any choice but to share your sin cuz now it's in the newspaper so John is saying is if we started a little earlier sooner and that's there's another there's a chapter in here about that too that sooner or later God will say look you didn't want to share deal with your deal with your sins when they were small and you were struggling and so I'm just going to let you go and pretty soon you're everyone's going to have to everyone's going to know about it because you wouldn't deal with it when when it was um manageable that I shouldn't use that word that's a stupid word but you know you know what I mean when I say that um yeah so that's a good point there marily did you have your hand up as well marily or it was was a while ago yeah I think sharing our sins it's a matter of trust too be Discerning who and I know that's been mentioned who you're sharing with and how it would affect them or how it will come back on me what if that person has a problem in and my my open transparent you know confession to that person goes other places happen and also maybe as a Christian that's too young or weak to accept information about it Knocking her or him back on his heels and oh my gosh what kind what kind of people are these yeah a young or a young Christian or yeah or someone and the other the other context is it has to be somebody that you know reasonably well I mean while I was writing the book and I think I put the anecdote in here um I had a young lady who went to a conference and so there was there were a lot of people and there were speakers and it was all for young folks I think they were College age so the speakers were also College age or maybe just a little bit older and there was a breakout session with a number of people I don't know 30 or 40 people in it and the guy who was leading the session told him that he had a struggle with this or that sexual sin I can't remember what it was something pretty scandalous but nobody in the breakout session knew that guy so she says to me for the rest of the conference I'm walking around going that's the guy that has a trouble with pornography that's the only thing I know about him like so there's no there has to be some context you can't just take your sin and dump it on a total stranger um there has to be some context for that and you know that that requires a lot of common sense and we we don't we don't really have enough time or even the um it's not really something that's uh brought out in the confession at all but there is a lot of common sense involved in that you can't just be dumping your uh your dirty laundry on everybody and it has to be but but I think I do think that we have the opposite problem which is and you know there's another quote from Bon Hofer and for some reason I didn't pick it out I think it's also an ortland book and he talks about Bon Harver talks about how to say you know all right I'm going to tell somebody about this I'm going to maybe tell a couple people about this even though it's really embarrassing and Christians should never do something like this he says that's part of the mortification of sin and boner goes so far as to say I don't have the quote but he does say this he says if you're not willing to go to some other person and say I've got a problem with this and I need your help then your repentance is slightly bankrupt it's not you you don't really mean business when you tell God I want to stop doing this because if you did you would take it that step farther and to tell one or one or two other people who think you're this great person that you have this terrible sin in your life is part of it's part of the mortification of sin because it's really hard to do that and in a sense that's part of the process of killing it if that makes sense Jeff um one of the things I've observed about building friendship is that when you whether it's a sports team or at work when you've gone through something difficult together oh yeah your bond grows that much stronger so for Christians it's not comfortable but if you want to struggle with sin together and fight that battle Yeah that's a great way to build yep deeper relationship comfortable yeah yeah and there is a deeper relationship ship there something that goes much deeper than talking about sports um and then there is one other corollary as long as we're on this and I think this is this go this is perfect common sense but it probably should be said if you're going to pick someone to confide in make sure they don't struggle with the same sin right can imagine some guy figuring he's he's like I have I have trouble with sexual Temptation and he picks out some young some single young lady in the church and the two of them decide they're going to share about this you can see where that's going in a big hurry um so you need to find somebody who's not always I mean alcoholics do share with alcoholics but your very confession of sin could sometimes represent a temptation to that other person if you're not using your head and being careful about who you're sharing with so I think that goes for it too uh goes there too any other thoughts anything else uh anything else you want to wrap up here Emily just what you just said if you want to be able to know person you should probably yeah right yeah and um if you decide you're going to share with someone can I can I talk to you about this struggle that I'm having you might even be opening a door for that person to share something of their own that they've been that they've been hesitating with I don't I can't tell anybody about this but then because you took the first step they might think U they might think that um that that's a good venue there and you know I I opened the my book with a very very small anecdote um when I lived in New York City I bumped into this guy in the subway he saw me reading the Bible and we started talking and he wanted to get together with a couple people and just do some Bible study during lunch so we found a place where we could meet and there were only four of us um and one one day two of us couldn't make it so it was me and one other guy okay and so we did our Bible verse or whatever we you know and then he says he says Joe can I ask you a question he said he said how come you how come you three guys you seem to have it together so much and you never seem to have a struggle and you seem to just just have your Christian Life all together and I said Ken I thought it was you three guys that had it all together the two of suddenly the light went on that we we've been we've been talking about the Bible for weeks on end here in these weekly lunch meetings and not really getting down to it because all we were doing is making each other feel bad um because we we it was a little bit too we weren't going deep enough as it were uh and that was I thought was interesting and then the other thing at the beginning my book as I I shared with another friend Christian co-worker he says what's your book about I said oh it's about sharing it's about sharing sins with one another and being more open about our struggles he goes oh so it's a work of fiction he says and uh so that kind of was uh convicting in terms of the way a lot of Church Life in America is we we just don't do it very much Paul thoughts lines it says in Galatians 6 any one of you transgression those who are spiritual should restored in the spirit Spirit of gentleness looking to yourselves should yeah we're supposed to one another in that way it says so I mean first of all can't find somebody know of Elders appointed uh love you and they've been through it all nothing shocks an elder that should be like yeah that's my number one rule as an elder nothing surprises me anymore it's also find other brothers and sisters that you know and trust and um and in that Galatians 6 passage looking to yourselves as you to I think it could go either way that you could be tempted to do the same soon that happens why you know he's getting away with it or yeah but the other is is to be tempted to judgmentalism and self-righteousness because because I don't struggle with that say why can't this guy just get it together and grow up and um so you know either way it does call for a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ if we're going to help each other um Jesus said uh he I sanctify myself for their sake in his high Priestly prayer and uh we have to sanctify ourselves as commit for the sake of the whole body that you know depends on every member to to keep growing clinging to Christ to help another yeah yeah and um that I think it's the first five or six vers of Galatians 6 that's really good stuff to look at and it's what's important is that what's interesting is we all know Galatians 5 right about the fruits of the spirit and then it goes on to talk and then right after that they're talking he's talking about bearing one another's burdens and sharing and opening up and then keeping in mind that you to yourself struggle with sin so you can't be judgmental about it be aware of your own weaknesses M did you have your hand up know I get to be that person that y talking about because all my stuff's public now and I guess I can just reflect back to this church that y doing something right because I haven't felt judged I mean I still have to live with my embarrassment in my I feel weird and awward I yeah otherwise you would probably be going to a different Church by now right you'd be like I can't that's those guys know all about me I got to go somewhere else yeah and that would be it's you know I there was one of the thing I wanted to say too and I can't I can't come up with it but you it was related to what Michael was talking about so yeah I appreciate that Michael thanks for sharing love you brother anybody [Laughter] else of course we love him thinking about John said about how you know Sin Sin comes to the point where you know you could have you could look back and and seeing the little baby steps and one of them that we downplay is and and it it involves a downplaying scripture taking every thought captive for Christ and and we were say you know oh yeah that's impossible but if we practice that then then those baby steps towards the greater sin are less likely and also that in in the King David counsels himself why why downcast all my soul so it's it's possible it's possible to counsel yourself as well uh to talk to yourself Al although it's not confessing your sins it's it's basically T you yeah using the scripture to yes and David does that frequently in the Psalms I think you were you were quoting one of the Psalms there yeah I um Paul says nothing surpris as an elder my um my number one quote for my life as not I've been Elder 30 years now is um it's a quote from dovi let hope I can get it right um it is a sign of great wisdom to be surprised by nothing or a sign of great foolishness that's it's a killer quote you can't do better than that quote because it does indicate that there's a certain you know there's a certain well we're not surprised by anything we've seen all this but still When sin comes up there is a there is a certain inherent alarm and distress in that you know you can't be jaded and say all this and other sin you know you and there is still a reaction to that which is very very and it would be foolish otherwise I love that quote by dovi um and then um and then two I know there was something else I wanted to say when Michael was talking and I couldn't think of it is that um we have had a number of cases over the past say year and a half or more where sin became public in the session even had to discuss it or someone had to get up and confess and we even had earlier ones going back several years um and I've had a lot of people tell me um hey you know when that came out or when I had to talk about it I felt like I was going to have to sneak out the back door I thought people wouldn't want to talk to me anymore um but they were surprised to find exactly the opposite reaction that people were coming toward them instead of moving away um and that's that's on you guys I mean these were individual not Elders these were individuals reaching out other individuals after public exposure or confession of sin to say we're with you we got you um and this was happening with no you know encouragement of the elders or anything it was it was just happening it's just natural um and so that's that's um that's a reason to be glad that the church is functioning in that way it's I'm looking at the clock thinking yeah I said we were going to just tag on a little bit at the end of 15 and move on to 16 and we got about s minutes left here I I should have known um I do have one other thing to say um does anybody else have something else they want anything else to add or share or insights or questions Mara folks but he was wondering about the part where the end of six where talks about the importance of of declaring your repentance to the offended sometimes it's easier to kind of De you know ask forgiveness of body of people that go to the person themselves that you actually sined against yeah I could share May with a friend that I have a judgmental attitude but to say go to the purse that I was judging is actually a little harder sometimes maybe you've been rejected when you tried that yeah I don't know he was yeah it's much harder and um you know that person might even struggle a bit to forgive you if it was something really bad they might have to say yeah I'm going to have to work on this for a little bit cuz I that really hurt me when you did that um but eventually there will be healing there and we we do have um a command to forgive one another considering that God has forgiven much worse sins Paul something to add to that and I didn't think you were saying this Mar but it does bring up that thought that um you know it's a heart sin of mine that uh only probably in very specific circumstances should I go and confess to another one a heart sin that never got outside of my own thoughts yeah yeah I didn't think Marshall was saying this at all but it does bear saying out loud that um you know there was a a case recently not in this church but at an elder talking to a younger woman in the church saying struggling with with whatever um my my feelings for you can we pray about this like that's totally abusive that one going right down the toilet you can see that coming a mile away but even even in much better like non abusive circumstances to say you know you just are so irritating to me I I just resent you I mean it's probably something to confess to the Lord and maybe get help again with some trustworthy person it's usually only if we can really say well you did this and this was an offense to me I and then if you're saying well you did this but in my heart I was sending an anger against you I want to confess that and let's just totally get it out on the table and peace um a hard thing probably get help um but only under very advice it's circumstances talk to the other person I can yeah but that is a good distinction to make unless we feel like every time I get irritated with someone I have to go and tell them about this that's not the way to peace and um this is a little bit esoteric for me to bring up at the very end of class here but I think it is important and I hope that I can express it clearly if if you look at Romans 7 we know that passage right where Paul says the things that I want to do I don't do so what he's talking about there is he's he's talking about something that's important for your own sense of um of confession of your sin he's saying there kind of two things he's saying yeah this is what I'm really like I do these terrible things that I don't want to do but he's also saying at the same time that's not really me that's not the new self that Jesus Christ has planted in me that's not what I'm going to be like in creation that is not my identity is not wrapped up in those sins that I commit I would like to stop doing those and so if you keep that in mind that your it's not glued to your identity and if you confess your sin to somebody you're not pitching yourself into the bonfire it's something that you would like to get rid of um it actually should be easier to confess sins I think sometimes we we're convin we convince ourselves well this is all I am I'm just a sum total of these terrible sins that I have Paul says no that's not really what's going on there yeah you do confess those sins but you admit that you agree with the word of God you're begging God to help you stop these things this is not what you're going to be like in heaven so that's not really the real you and you don't have to if you if you if you can make that distinction and and think to yourself that's not my identity is not completely wrapped up in those then I don't know if if that makes sense it's kind of an esoteric thing to trot out at the very end of class but I think it's important that we understand that Paul is saying um I'm trying to get rid of these things and therefore if I have to confess it I'm not um destroying my entire Persona as it were um because your identity is is in Christ and uh if I could just write yeah Paul something else Goode yeah just to say that I mean just for review um when we do do this with somebody that we name the sin clearly that we're confessing and a and actually then dougas say I'm sorry or worst of all I'm sorry you feel this way actually requ the other person to put away to relationship so it's the bi yeah yeah and um if someone says that to you um make sure you mean it you know it's very easy to say yeah I forgive you without really thinking it through but if youve if you say yes I forgive you you are telling that person I'm not going to keep bringing this up again in the future and hitting you over the head with it I'm not going to go on having simmering resentment about it even if I do still feel hurt I'm going to put that away and not and not sit on it um and so you might say well you know I need to think about this for a couple of minutes here and make sure that I'm processing this before I actually do grant you that forgiveness so then make sure that it's legit in other words don't say yes I forgive you in the same way that we say that's okay when somebody says I'm sorry when it's not okay um and then um we were talking about and I said I was so prepared I should have had this quote ready last week um that um in I mentioned in uh The Scarlet Letter um this guy has committed this terrible sin he's the pastor is this the last is this the last Sunday of adult of all L Sunday school okay so I'm not I think they were going to come up here so all right so I'm not going to read this quote are we ready not yet not yet say just a few minutes sure you'll he yeah that happened at the very beginning of class I was thinking to myself is this the last day of all age Sunday school and if it is they probably want to come in and share their memory verses with us in which case this class is probably going to go a little bit longer than it normally does give me some kind of signal out there Seth so the guy has committed this terrible sin he's the pastor um and he feels compelled to sort of tell the congregation about this but he won't say what it is cu it's too embarrassing he got the one they got this woman pregnant and she had she had a baby and now she's bearing all the appro public appr probium and he goes on being the pastor he had told his hearers that he was altogether vile a vile or companion of the viest the worst of Sinners an Abomination a thing of unimaginable iniquity could there be pler speech than this would not the people start up in their seats by a simultaneous impulse and tear him out of the pulpit no they heard it all and they only reverenced him the more oh The Godly youth they set among themselves what a saint the minister knew well subtle but remorseful hypocrite that he was the light in which his vague confession would be viewed he had spoken the truth and transformed it into a falsehood that's so that's what happens when you just keep going around saying I'm a terrible terrible terrible sinner but you never name specific sins you only make yourself and the other thing Hawthorne says in here in the scar of letter is all this did was make the congregation feel bad that they saw this guy up there their Pastor who kept saying what a terrible cery was without naming the sin or any sins so they're thinking well if he feels that way about himself I must be the lowest the lowest of the low a mere earthworm because the pastor calls himself the violist of Sinners so you can see where Bon offer says the real mortification and break with sin occurs when you name it and I see little faces in the window so I'm going to skip the closing prayer here we might do that at the very very end come on in guys they will share with us some of the stuff they did and learn in the all AG Sunday School this year you can come on in yeah I'll get it out of the way uh and actually Jeff will get it out of the way thanks Jeffrey [Applause] hey Clement nice bathrobe [Music] [Music] um so why don't we let's walk it on one side can we do that let's let's all move over to this side here no you guys stay where oh we're going to have everybody second over [Music] here okay well thank you all for coming for our performance I mean you were already here but thank you for not leaving um before we perform so this summer in summer Sunday school we've been studying the life of David and we have been learning a song this summer and Catherine and Seth carbery have been leading Us in that and we've also been memorizing a scripture passage from Isaiah 63 a Psalm of David did I say what did I say Psalm 63 although there is an Isaiah 63 Psalm 63 we' memorizing that passage and Jen ball and laor Trio have been leading us through that and we do a lesson each week from a chapter of the life of David and then at the end of each Sunday school class we do a skit and so we selected one of those skits that we perform for you today near the end but at this point Mrs Carberry is going to come over I think here and Le the kids in the singing of the song that we've been learning is that okay [Music] yeah hi you guys sing along with this all right dark darkness of f the light of my Whatever May my God is all [Music] [Applause] I right bright are the treas may offer to me but whatever the my God is [Music] all he is my Str I cannot go when all my is the night is and he is my S for he has [Music] me father my God is all I we we for my soon my journey but I love to [Music] my where God has my yes he my he is my when I cannot go on he all my power is is and my for he hased me [Music] Jo PR praise father God is all I need my god is so big strong and soy my God God Isle [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] my so big [Music] my the mountains are in the Valle are in the stars are my God is so great so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God can do there's nothing my god canot do he is my I can go when all my power is on oh all the night is all and he is my S for he [Music] Jo praise praise to my father my God is all I needa praise to my father be my God is all all I [Music] he e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e and in order to help us focus on worship let's turn to 429 we'll sing all [Music] every Bless My Heart Sing My praise [Music] [Music] the unchanging love I [Music] my and I take me to Jesus a stranger wondering from the God to Danger [Music] inter my to [Music] it so Focus On Our Risen Savior Jesus Christ and we are gathered together [Music] see [Music] welcome everyone to New Life Church and for the worship of the TR Christ one of our pastors here Pastor here sitting comfortably but he will be preaching this morning and uh just a couple of announcements uh and points of Celebration Evan Adam son of Jamie Becky Adam was successfully married to fi yesterday and that was a matter of great rejoicing so we should keep them in our prayers and then they'll be continuing on at Grove City College uh so we won't see a whole lot of that but we should congratulate Jamie and Adam Jamie and Becky Adam as you see them also uh this afternoon in a small ceremony uh Jeremy will be marrying faola and we rejoice in that there's a beautiful couple with us now um so we're rejoicing in that and keep them in your prayers and we'll be organizing some kind of shower for them just to support and help in their new life just a couple and we'll give you more information about that um also uh just in the ongoing news um first of all thank you everyone who who who served uh for the all ages children Sunday school class over the summer and we're a little bit behind in the schedule because we're watching down the final presentation thank you everybody well done J uh this morning during this service we do have uh the teachers uh beginning their regular through the school year course work and um so we have them come up front during this service and make this annual teacher commitment and they're installed in a place of trust and service for the whole church so we'll see that later in the worship service and also do make sure that you signed up for the sign up as unon board in the hallway for picnic have that we enjo every [Music] yeargan and um also uh we've been announcing that uh for the next three Sundays we'll have a special Sunday school class on uh new uh church policies and procedures for abuse actually starts on the sorry yes not this coming Sunday thank you Joe but after this coming Sunday for 3 weeks we'll be studying that what is viewed from a Biblical perspective and how this new life how are we committed to help and rescuing bringing to repentance whenever that uh we become aware of that so we've been working on that for a long time and also introducing a new Crisis Care team members so that's important that'll be for the the the last three Sundays of September is there anything else that yes Alex for those of you who sh t-shirts a few weeks ago they have been individually created for your wear enjoyment I have them for you in the back so if you come to the fellowship hall after we'll deliver your beautiful Church looking good thank you Alex and that's a a Ministry that we're happy to support um not Alex's t-shirt making business but you know the uh shirati uh paliative Care Ministry so anything else need to be announced well let us uh turn our thoughts back uh to the Lord Jesus uh the one mediator between God and man and we'll hear his call to Worship in just a moment people of God please rise in the presence of God our savior who blesses us when we come hoping in the Lord Jesus Christ Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and he calls us to worship with these words from Psalm 95 veres 1-3 oh come let us sing to the Lord let us Make a Joyful Noise to the rock of our Salvation let us come into His presence with Thanksgiving let us Make a Joyful Noise to him with songs of praise for the Lord is a great God and a great king Above All Gods let's pray together Our Father in heaven we have come to sing and we've come to acknowledge that you are the great God above all gods and that especially you have exalted your son our Lord Jesus Christ above all the kings of this world you've given to him all authority in heaven and on Earth it is your will that we should look to the son and listen to him that we should bend the knee that we should extol and exalt him and all this to your glory for you have written in the word of God that as we confess Jesus Christ as Lord it is to your glory father for he is the brightness of the glory of God and he is the exact representation of your character he speaks the words of God and in him we see the father as we cannot see the father in Clarity and power anywhere else so that our fellowship is with the father and with his son through the spirit help us we pray to know the actual transforming joyful reality of this theology in our experience as we worship you today be glorified and help us to sing with joy inexpressible and full of Glory receiving as the outcome of our faith the salvation of our souls for we pray this father in Jesus name amen and so let us sing to him hym 5110 Come Ye disconsolate 510u [Music] to the [Music] Mery bring your [Music] heart [Music] earthor of the [Music] [Music] andure speak the com in Mercy Earth no and [Music] see bre of see from the of [Music] God to [Music] theast where Earth [Music] as we remain standing we will confess our faith using the words of the Apostles Creed these are printed on one of the inserts in the bulletin there on the back of that other newer song we're learning and of course this is a confession of Christian faith organized as it should be by the person in whom we believe the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and so Christian what do you believe I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and Earth I believe in Jesus Christ his only begotten son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under pontious pilot was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the Forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life Everlasting amen please be seated at this point in the worship service um which is like becoming a Christian every Lord's day we become aware of God's holiness and we uh listen to him and then we become aware of our sinfulness and we confess it with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and so we practice uh this deep pattern of Salvation and sanctification every Lord's day with this pattern this liturgy and we hear from God's word in uh the book of Deuteronomy chap 6 veres 4-9 this is God's will for us as Believers Deuteronomy 6 4-9 carefully listen to the word of God let it judge your hearts that you may then confess your sins also here o Israel the Lord Our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your Gates let us pray Father in heaven as we read and review and consider how comprehensive is the lordship of Jesus Christ over US Written even in Old Testament terms we are deeply ashamed and we see that we have lived for you very inconsistently and we have often given ourselves over to the passions of the Flesh and the idols of the heart and the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air and we have not always resolutely followed the Lord Jesus Christ we have not loved you with all of our heart and soul and might we have not lived according to the New Covenant blessing which is that the law of God should be written in our minds and on our hearts we have not taught our children as diligently as we should have and modeled this Faith to them that they might be raised in the nurture and admonition of the lord we have not talked of these matters in Christian Fellowship whether we are sitting in our own homes or out in the world at work and play and we have not committed ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ when we lie down and when we rise up we have not bound the truth and gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ we have not walked in newness of Life as we should have that the Lord and his requirements and his grace should as it be written on our foreheads and we should see everything in life through those lenses and in this we pray that you would forgive us we know that you Lord Jesus Christ lived this way but we know that having lived this way you also died for us as Sinners who do not to this day live in that way and so father we take courage as we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and we ask that by the blood of the Cross we would know Redemption the Forgiveness of our sins through faith in Jesus Christ in his great name in his work in his performance and in his righteousness we hope amen and the promise of the Gospel is from Revelation chapter 19 as you can see that uh when Josh preaches it will be on themes of marriage and so we should listen carefully as uh This Promise of salvation for those who believe in Jesus is C couched in marital terms as Jesus will save his bride finally completely in Revelation 19 6-9 then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude like the Roar of many Waters and like the sound of Mighty peels of Thunder crying out Hallelujah for the Lord Our God the Almighty Reigns let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the mar marage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous Deeds of the Saints and the angel said to me write this blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are the true words of God and of course this is uh looking toward the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ who is presented earlier in Revelation as a lamb standing Before the Throne of God as if slain and because that righteous and holy and spotless Lamb of God came into the world and died for our sins was slain for us as a sacrificial substitute our sins are forgiven and uh the good news of the Gospel is that that invitation and call to believe in Jesus goes out to all peoples and is heard even today day where Jesus is preached believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and your sins are forgiven and your uh you already have the gift of eternal life and you will be with him forever at the marriage supper of the lamb and so we should respond um with faith and love as we appropriately sing all I have is Christ so let's stand together and sing to him [Music] I that Pro Jo and let me to the I had no you re [Music] to to the [Music] of in my reserve for me all I know is praise Hallelujah [Music] is Christ [Music] hallelu Jesus is my God [Music] hallelu all I is Christ hallelu Jesus is [Music] be and all streng to follow [Music] yours come father my life in any way you choose let my s forever my only ghost is you [Music] hallelu Christ Hallelujah Jesus Is My Life Hallelujah all I is Christ hallelu Jesus is [Music] my as we prepare to read God's word let's go to him in prayer together Heavenly Father it is because of your great love that we are gathered here as your congregation as your people as your bride Lord we um pray as we um come before your throne as we come under your word Lord that you would speak to us Lord we pray you would awaken in us a a growing desire for you Lord we pray that we would never forsake our first love and that by the power of your word that you would ensure Lord that we continue to walk Faithfully as we have professed Faith In You Lord we pray um that you would call those who are unbelieving to belief call those who do believe Lord to further um faithfulness we pray this in the Name of Christ Jesus our lord our savior our great lover amen our sermon passage today I thought it was fitting to choose this passage to uh dive into the Song of Solomon because we have uh two weddings of uh couples in our congregation this week so we will be in Song of Solomon Chapter 2 Song of Solomon chap 2: 8-1 17 Song of Solomon chap 28 through 17 uh Song of Solomon it's not one we often look at um on Sundays uh partially because we want to keep everything very PG on a Sunday morning right but I'll keep this sermon PG I promise but uh the it is a series of of love songs it is a series of love poems and if we were ancient Hebrews what we would do if if we knew that Jeremy and fabiola's wedding was today is we would get together and what we would do is we would sing to them and we would sing to them in the days leading up to their wedding and we would sing to them in the days after their wedding right when they're like we want to be alone we we' come we'd knock on their door and we'd say we have a song to sing to you right and we we'd break out in a multi-art chorus of of of singing of call in response between men and women a singing of Love um and and so what we're going to read today is Song of Solomon chap 2 veres 8 through 17 this comes from the perspective of the woman of of the Beloved the voice of my beloved behold he comes leaping over the mountains bounding over the hills my beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag behold there he stands behind our wall gazing Through the Windows looking through the lattice my beloved speaks and says to me Arise My Love My Beautiful One come away for behold the winter is passed the rain is over and gone the flowers appear on the earth the time of singing has come and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land the Fig Tree ripens its figs and the vines are in Blossom they give forth fragrance Arise My Love My Beautiful One and come away oh my dve in the Cliffs of The Rock and the crannies of the cliff let me see your face let me hear your voice for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely catch the foxes for us the little foxes that spoil The Vineyards for our Vineyards are in Blossom my beloved is mine and I am his he grazes among the lies until the day Breeze in the shadow fleas turn my beloved and be like a gazelle or a young stag on clefted mountains this is the word of the Lord and if you would turn with me to the Gospel of John the Gospel of John chapter 20 and we will be looking at this as well during the sermon John 20 [Music] 1-8 now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb so she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple the one whom Jesus loved and said to them they've taken the Lord out of the Tomb and we don't know where they have laid him so Peter went out with the other disciple and they were going toward the tomb both of them were running together but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first and stooping to look in he saw the linen cloths lying there but he didn't go in then Peter came following him and went into the tomb he saw the linen cloth lying there and the face CL which had been on Jesus's head not lying with the linen cloth but folded up in a place by itself then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead then the disciples went back to their homes but Mary stood weeping outside the tomb and she wept she she she stooped to look into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lay one at the head and one at the feet then said to uh they they said to her woman why are you weeping she said to him they have taken away my Lord I do not know where they have laid them him having said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing but she didn't know it was Jesus Jesus said it were woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking supposing him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you have carried him away tell me where you have laid him and I will take him and and said uh I'll take him away Jesus said to her marry she turned and said to him in Aramaic RAB bonai which means teacher Jesus said a wordo not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my father but go to my brothers and say to them I am ascending to my father and your father to my God and to your God Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples I have seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her this is the word of the Lord I'll now invite the children's up for the children's message message that's a sweet bow tie I guess I have a question for you guys are you guys Christians that was sad are you guys Christians yes are you guys Christians yes and what what do Christians believe in their hearts God raised from the a did I go out of order I did what do Christians say Jesus is Lord what do Christians say Jesus is Lord wow you guys are good at this and what is the name in that word Christian Christ Christ are you a follower of Christ Jaden I don't know you don't know are you a follower of Christ Tim yeah are you guys followers of Christ yes yes I have a question for you does Jesus Christ love you yes yes how do you know he loves you how do you know he loves you on the cross he died on the cross for you that's amazing do you know anyone who loves you that much Jesus Jesus Jesus okay how else do you know Jesus loves you because of the Bible the the Bible That's the song right the Bible tells me so how else do you know that Jesus Loves You His blessings His blessings he takes care of you that's amazing now now why did Jesus die on the cross for you that's a good question it's cuz he loves you right and it's because he wants to be with you right forever forever and ever or more and and here's the crazy thing is is that also how we know Jesus loved us is that he he was he resurrected that he rose from the dead right that his love was so strong for you that he he was dead and he came back to life that's an amazing amount of love he has for you right he loves you so much that death could not hold him that the grave couldn't keep him right that is an amazing amount of love and so I I have a another question for you guys do you think it would be good for if your parents love you do do your parents love you now would it be okay if you didn't love them back no right what does love love requires us to love the person in return right would it be okay if if your your your mom loved your dad but your dad didn't love your mom that'd be bad right and so Jesus loves you so much and so what do you think we should do in return love him love him that's right Xander we should love Jesus in return right because he is he loves us more than anyone else can love us and so we should love him back that that's that's that's not the easiest thing to always do right we get distracted but it's something that God calls us to do and it's the best thing you can do so do you guys still want to be Christians yes you think that that's that's a good thing to do is love Jesus back yeah so let let's go to Jesus in prayer real quick okay guys dear God we thank you that you have loved us so much to send um Jesus to Earth Lord to to live amongst us and to die for our sins Lord we pray that we would um love him back all of our Lives Lord we pray that we would love you um in heaven for eternity we pray this in Jesus name amen all right guys let's let's walk back to our parents our hymn in response to the reading of scripture is hymn 43 43 glorious things of thee are [Music] spoken spoken of our God he whose word canot be broken for his own on the rock ofes found what sh with Sal allround smile [Music] streams of Living Waters sing from eternal love well supp my sons and daughters and all fear [Music] of can f while such a river ever flows like the for theer Nevers from [Music] toit see the cloud and fire for a glory and the C showing that the Lord is here theing from their man by night and Sh [Applause] [Music] by let the world I will glory in is the world pleasure all his and show and Lasting treasure [Music] [Music] yeah how to handle a woman there's a way said the wife old man A Way known by every woman since the whole rigamarole began do I flatter her I begged him answer do I threaten or conjo or plead do I brood or play the gay romancer said he smiling no indeed how to handle a woman Mark me well I'll tell you sir the way to handle a woman is to love her simply love her her merely love her love her love her love her the Broadway list Alan learner writing the uh theater uh Broadway play uh Camelot here captures the beating hearts of the Song of Solomon that the fundamental joining link between man and woman between husband and wife life is love that such a relationship cannot have as its foundation selfishness or convenience or practicality domination familial Alliance but rather that the Beating Heart of a relationship must be love the desire for Union the desire for shared life the desire to possess and be possessed to have and to hold the desire to be bound to the other because our happiness has been caught up in their happiness our good in their good our life in their life The Song of Solomon is not technically a book it's a love song Between Two Lovers and on its most basic meaning this book of Hebrew it is a a book of Hebrew love poetry but the song works on two levels one it celebrates human desire for intimacy and more profoundly it points us to God who has loved his church who has loved his bride and in response the church's love for its greater lover here in chapter two of The Song of Solomon the lover comes to his beloved with a question he comes to the Beloved with a question a question of five syllables will you marry me unusual in biblical narrative we don't hear the report from the man bragging to his his friends about his Conquest but rather we we hear the report from the woman we come to verse eight and we see this interaction begin the voice of my beloved behold he comes leaping over mountains bounding over Hills my beloved is like a gazelle a young stag behold where he stands behind our wall gazing into the windows looking through the lattice immediately so characteristic of the Song of Solomon name calling begins right they they begin calling each other names they love calling each other names he's referred to her as animal names as plant names as as a mayare as a dove as a lily she's referred to him as a cluster of henna blossoms an apple tree I wouldn't necessarily recommend this uh to you but it works for them um and it's more than that it's it's it's language to express affection within the Song of Solomon but but more than that it is language which connects this book to the wider biblical narrative connects this book to the rest of the Bible right do you recall the scene for the lion there was a lion for the bird there was a bird for the giraffe a giraffe and yet for man as man fulfills the assignment God gives to him to name the animals the intended outcome is inevitable the man realizes that among the creatures God has made there is nothing like him there is nothing for him right we must not forget in Reading Genesis that he is the the first man which means that among other things he doesn't know what he doesn't yet no and so God in this this exercise brings about a a realization that there is no one like him God wants Adam to feel palpably before gracious uh the need before graciously meeting this need of an exceedingly special creation something unlike all of the others something that you uniquely and obviously fits him so God put Adam to sleep he removes his Riv fashion a perfect partner for him and then God brings her to Adam and says what do you think right and Adam explodes in response this over against everything else you have shown me this at last is bone of my bone flesh of My Flesh she shall be called woman because she is taken out of man right these are the very first words recorded out of the mouth of an unfallen human being poetry love song right it is a a a love song A A A Song In A raptured by the beauty of the woman he speaks poetry The Song of Solomon is a poetically inspired development of this love poem in Genesis chapter 2 the Garden of Eden the song of Solon there's parallels throughout this book of The Song of Solomon that are immediately to obvious to someone who reads them both both are filled with imagery of lush vegetation both are filled with imagery of beautiful mouthwatering fruit both refer to a garden watered by Springs and Wells both reveal the joyful Union between husband and wife both speak of man and woman in shared nakedness without a single sense of Shame the language of animals and hills in the context of flirtation is to this point you are like the greatest parts of all of God's creation and yet you surpass them all right you and you only can I Love This Song of Solomon is the echo of Eden it is a recapturing of those scenes of Primal innocence and in doing so refer uh uh reaffirming affirming the goodness of God's creation if you recall God's Own pronouncement looking upon everything at the completion of creation and what does he say it is all very good God is satisfied and the song of Psalm and plums into the depths of this reality that human love while stained with sin while affected by the effects of the fall at moments seems to transcend the fallenness of creation and express Something Heavenly her husb this this lover is is like a gazelle it's like a young stag behold where he stands behind her while gazing Through the Windows through the lattice he's he's coming she she hears him her beloved is coming she Likens him to the gazelle young stag stressing speed agility Grace Beauty power calling attention to his eagerness his enthusiasm his single-minded passion to overcome every obstacle which keeps him from getting to her he's not walking he's not running he's leaping he's bounding over mountains and then suddenly he stops he stands standing outside of the house look he stands there behind the wall right he doesn't barge in Uninvited as if it was his right but rather there is a barrier between them and yet he then in turn because of this barrier we we get this image of him gazing Through the Windows seeking to to peek this the peek at this woman to to catch a glimpse of her in in the language of of the Hebrew seems to indicate that he's he's pacing around the house looking through each and every window he can find why because he desires to see her he desires her he he wants Union with this woman he's pacing back and forth trying to get to her because he has a question he has a question notice verse 10 my beloved spoke to me and said arise my darling my beautiful one come with me and if you look down then at verse 13 Arise My arise come my darling my beautiful one come with me right we we we see here repetition it's a a framing technique in inclusio it's literary bookends to what he is trying to communicate what he is trying to say what is he saying he's honey is my favorite food it it's your favorite too come live in the 100 Acre Woods I can be with you nothing done on lazy days whatever uh whatever's wrong with that to watch our tiger bounce and play from tree stump where we sat I may not have the smarts of owl or rabbit's clever plan I know however that my Palms will warmly wrap your hand so come to here and live with me escape the pace of Life a chance to Simply sit and be a Pooh Bear's lovely wife right come with me that is what he is asking will you marry me will you marry me if you prefer it in in pros and in narrative within the the Book of Genesis this is why the man leaves his father and mother and unites to his wife and they shall become one flesh will you marry me the asking of the question immediately it's significantly different than any scene of proposal which with which we are accustomed to but the intent of this man is clear arise my darling my beautiful one and come with me come with me then he gives his rationale in verse 11 come with me why for behold the winter has passed the rain is over and gone the flowers appear on Earth the time of singing has come the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land the Fig Tree ripens its figs The Vines are in Blossom they give forth fragrance Arise My Love My Beautiful One Come Away with me why why should she come because it is time right there love has blossomed it has reached its Zenith it is right for the taking this is the moment this is what their relationship to this point has has blossomed into marry me he's asked the question but all of this begs the question of course what about her we we we've talked about his desire for her his need of of her his his his his his desire to be possessed by her but what about her does she desire him how does she respond to this question verse 16 my beloved is mine and I am his my beloved is mine and I am his right here we we find the mutuality of their love the reciprocity of this love my beloved is mine I am his it is covenantal language you can hear the Echoes of of the Old Testament of of God speaking to Israel his bride I will be their God and they will be my people my beloved is mine and I am his it may be the single most beautiful line in all of the Song of Solomon it's a statement that openly confesses the prescription of Genesis of uniting with your lover leaving father and mother and being united in love one flesh this right here is the material for our marriage vows do you solemnly agree before God in these witnesses to make this man your lawful and wedded husband the woman proclaims here I do right I do my beloved is mine and I am his she affirms that the mutual uh the desire to mutually possess one another that the totality of each other is Avail that she's available to him in his in her totality and he will be available to her in his totality my beloved is mine and I am his as the Apostle Paul puts it in First Corinthians the wife doesn't have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband in the same way right in the equal way the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife right the the the Paul here is not just talking about their bodies but rather he is talking about the entirety of their persons bound up in mutual love and loyalty for the other she is there for him he is there for her it is a selfless reciprocity a holy and happy Duality that challenges the notion of male dominance that the sinful world has brought um to preeminence a dominance which still exists in many Evangelical circles two will become one flesh my beloved is mine I am his my beloved is mine I am his and then she goes on to then describe this love until the day Breeze and the Shadows flee turn my beloved be like a gazelle or a young stag on the cleft mountains now you can go on to interpret this in in something past a PG level so we won't go there but but in essence what she is saying is gaze upon me I want you to know all of me I want to know and be known right Genesis chap chapter 2 right the man and the woman knew each other right gaze upon me his question will you marry me her answer emphatically yes I will marry you yes I am yours you are mine the two will become one flesh now if we think back to the Book of Genesis the two shall become one because they began as one woman was taken from the side of the man and here in marriage she is returning and they are bound together in love the the man gave names to all the livestock to all the birds of the Heavens to every beast of the field but the man there was no helper fit for him so the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept took one of her ribs and closed up its place with flesh and the rib that the Lord had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her the man for this reason shall a man leave father and mother and join himself to his wife for this reason shall a man leave father and mother and join himself to his wife have you ever noticed what is weird about that verse what is so strange about that verse for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and join himself to his wife intriguingly these words have scarcely if ever been put into practice in human history if you read The Narrative of the Book of Genesis it continually has people leaving their father and mother and being joined in marriage and yet what happens over and over again is the woman leaves her father and mother and joins with the Man's family right Jacob goes off and he brings them back to his family Isaac goes off and brings the woman back to his family and yet this seems to indicate that the man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife right scarcely even in modern times does this occur the H the bride is brought into the husband's home and family and the the woman subsequently Bears The Man's last name right Chloe becomes Valic because I don't become or generally speaking it's why Paul in Ephesians quotes this verse and immediately says it's a great mystery right he's like this is weird this is confusing and yet then he he goes on to interpret it he says this is a great mystery this odd odd phrase in the middle of the creation narrative it's a great mystery but what it is is it's a reference to Christ in his church Christ who left the heavens Christ who left the The House of the father to go to his bride to gather his bride to himself right It's called Christmas it's the mystery of the Incarnation god with us and this Union between the lover and the Beloved is at the heart of John's gospel it's at the heart of the message of John the Son of God set aside his Divine Glory that had uh forever been his and he took upon himself the form of the lowliest kind of humanity why so that the impassible wall of sin that separates you from God might be REM removed we see at the beginning of Christ's Ministry in the Book of John he is introduced as the bridegroom John the Baptist goes I'm the Fred of the bridegroom that dude's the bridegroom right Jesus is the bridegroom within the Book of John Christ's Ministry begins at a wedding feast in in canaa of Galilee and he provides wine which would have been the task of who the bridegroom right the the bride the the groom is responsible to to bring wine to the wedding and Jesus is the one who produces wine in in the passage right he he weirdly there Mary's like like do this miracle for us please and and Jesus goes woman it's not my time right and we're immediately like that's rude and yet he he's not doing it for for a a reason of impoliteness but rather it's a theological thing happening Mary is being called woman here and it's tying her back to the first woman it's tying her back to Eve and this this marriage between Adam and Eve between Christ and his church if we keep reading the the the the gospel of uh uh John in chapter 4 just right after Jesus meets a woman at the well right he meets a a woman at the well and immediately their conversation is and she again is called generic woman right we don't get her name she's the woman at the well and Jesus is is talking to her and immediately what comes up is whether or not she's married right and if you go back to the the Old Testament back to the Book of Genesis where we have been um Jesus is the story is referencing back to to how all of the Patriarchs found their wives right where did Isaac go when he wanted a wife he's going to go chill at the well right and then then his wife pops up right where's Jacob gonna go he's going to go hang out at a well and suddenly a wife appears right and so Jesus is chilling at this well and we have this woman who we find out is not conventionally married right she she is is is single uh who you don't live with uh who you live with now is is not your husband we can interpret that as many things um but ultimately what it means is she is someone who does not have a groom Jesus is her groom right Jesus is the groom if we keep reading um through the the book of of John again we we we come to the The Narrative of of Mary of Bethany a anointing the the feet of of Jesus with we we read nard and and this this goes straight into the book of the song of Psalm in chapter 1 where it says the king's feet were anointed by his beloved with nard and it gave off fragrance right he he's tying it explicitly together right exactly in in the Book of John we we read um that Mary of Bethany anoints the feet of Jesus and the fragrance of nard fills the room John picks out this detail because it points to Jesus being the bridegroom and going forward to what we read as our our passage in chapter 20 we we come to um a woman who is in a garden who is searching for her master and this is at the very core of the song of of Solomon almost the whole song of Solomon is set in a garden the groom even calls his beloved a locked garden and song of pmon 4: 12 the man says I I came to the Garden my sister my bride and in chapter six the woman says my beloved has gone down to his garden to the bed of spices to graze in the gardens to gather the lies I am my beloveds and my beloveds is mine he grazes among the lies in John chapter 20 Mary when looking for Jesus mistakes Jesus for a gardener she mistakes Jesus for a gardener but is she wrong Gregory the Great though early church father says this perhaps the woman was not as mistaken as she appeared to be when she believed Jesus was a gardener was he not spiritually a gardener for her when he planted the fruitful seed of faith in her heart um the force of by the force of his love but why did she say to the one she saw and believed to be a gardener when she had not yet seen him um who he had uh was seeking sir if you have him uh if you have taken him away um she had not yet said who she was looking for to him so she immediately goes to the gardener and she's like where is he right and if you're the gardener You' be like who who who where's who right is what Gregory is getting at why is is she doing this uh uh she had not yet uh said uh who it was that made her weep uh from desire and mention him um whom he spoke but the force of Love customarily brings it about that a heart believes everyone else is aware of the one of whom it is always thinking after he had called her by name by the common name of woman he calls her then by her own name Mary as if to say recognize him who recognizes you love him who has loved you this is the picture of how the church ought to be responding to its great bridegroom right it ought to be the absolute our our preoccupation as Believers right is seeking to find Jesus seeking to come in contact with Jesus seeking to find our lover the one who has loved us before the foundations of the Earth the one who has loved us unto death Song of Solomon 86 ties even more than the death of Christ to to Christ's love it also ties his resurrection story to Christ's love the end of The Song of Solomon we read this set me as a seal upon your hearts as a seal upon your arm love is strong stronger than death death jealousy is as Fierce as the grave it flashes or flashes of fire the very flame of the Lord right here the church the the bride symbolized by Mary Magdalene knows that the beloved's love is as strong as death and as Fierce as the grave the husband's love for her his his bride is that of the Lord himself in John's Resurrection morning story Mary is a woman who searches in the night and finds the one she loves only to discover her him in the midst of a spice-filled garden he has conquered death he has burst forth from the grave indeed he is this spiced Gardener King we read about in The Song of Solomon uh the one she longs to embrace this is John's theology that Christ is the great bridegroom and we are his bride that you are his bride if you believe with him and this is how God pursues his bride to Simply love her merely love her love her love her that is how God deals with you and now prior to his coming again for the express purpose of marrying his bride he proposes marriage to you I am your bridegroom I love you will you become part of my bride unworthy men and women who cast themselves upon me for salvation so that they might become beautiful to quote the Song of Solomon you are beautiful my darling there is no imperfection in you that is what Christ will say to you on the last day you are beautiful my darling there is no imperfection in you I have five syllables four simple words all of them easy to understand right who is going to ask you this question Jesus himself when will he ask you this question he's doing it at this very moment he's asking you this question where will he ask you this question right here at new life right how will he ask you this question he's doing it through my own voice why is he asking you this question because he loves you because he cares about you because he desires you just as this man has desired this woman this is the question that everyone needs to hear and the one that invites from you an unambiguous response I am yours and you are mine so Jesus ask you this question will you marry me will you be mine this is the question of Jesus to you let's go to him in prayer Heavenly Father we understand that the history of the the world is in fact a love story Lord it is a love story between you and your people Lord whom you have promised to love Lord we pray Lord that we would know your love all the more Lord we pray knowing we have placed a wall in between us and you in our sin Lord Lord we praise you Lord for overcoming this wall Lord for for removing this wall Lord that we might know you who has loved us before all things who has loved us in our sin while we were your enemies Lord who has loved us as your bride who has loved us as your friends so Lord we come to you now Lord and we pray that we would know your love once more Lord that love love that is unending unchanging for us Lord we pray Lord that we would live in light of this love that we would love you in return with the fullness of our beings Lord we pray you would make us great lovers just as Christ has loved us we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ Our Savior amen our Hymn of response this morning is hymn 343 343 what wondrous love is this 343 please stand with me [Music] my soul my soul what wonderous love is this my soul what wonderous love is this the of BL to the for my soul for my soul to be the Dreadful curse for my soul when I was sinking down sinking down sinking down when I was sinking down sinking down when I [Music] sink Christ aside his ground for my soul for my soul Christ laid aside his for my soul to God and the L I will sing I will sing to God and to the L I will sing to God and to the L is The Great I Am join the I will sing I will sing while Joy the I will singe Sing Sing free [Music] s from I'm free I'll sing and joyful me and through eternity I'll sing sing through eternity sing [Music] yes let's have the elers up can come up along with our Sunday school teachers [Music] [Music] well this is uh our annual teacher installation in which we ask our teachers uh to slide up here as our teachers also to make this uh this commitment and it's been several years since I've actually read this paragraph I'm going to read it this time just to remind ourselves what we're doing and what we're asking uh these brothers and sisters to do for us we consider the Christian education of our children the responsibility divinely imposed upon the family first but also upon the church no family is fulfilling it's god-given mandate to raise its children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord unless it is a matter of daily effort in the home we already read one of those great passages that teach us this Deuteronomy 6:4 and then Ephesians 6:4 but the church is to strengthen parents and especially fathers so that they may better teach their families and should also supplement the teaching of the parents in appropriate ways toward the goal toward the final goal that our children take their mature place and Christians within the Covenant Community the church helping the whole body to grow into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ toward that end we offer Christian education for our children on Sunday mornings we also offer HTH group and other opportunities for the children and today we witness our teachers under the oversight of our session offering their labors to God as a sacrificial act of worship in turn we as a church commit to support pray and be grateful for their labors and so we ask these five questions of our teachers as they take up this weighty burden of seeking the Eternal salvation of our children and uh so we'll ask everyone the question of course we should remember that Josiah and Martin are ruling Elders they actually have been installed to be teachers of the church for their not their lives and they're going to stand shoulder to shoulder with our other teachers that commit year by year for whom we are unspeakably grateful and at the end of this we will ask the church also to commit to support pray and Express gratitude for them okay so deide in the next few minutes if you can doing that thank you and so will you read and study God's word attend worship Services regularly and seek to participate in such teacher training opportunities as may be held in order to prepare better for your future will you prepare your lessons diligently yes will you strive in all things to be a Christian example for your students to follow will you lovingly concern yourself with your students welfare praying for them and urging for Christ will you submit to the decisions of the session of New Life Church and its Christian [Music] education they clearly study ahead of the teachers know their role well and they've committed to this and now you the brothers and sisters of new life will you support pray and Express gratitude for the labors of these teachers yes Wonder we are all in a blessed and here the Lord father we thank you for raising up these teachers who are uh willing to work hard do much preparation and exercise patience and many other gifts that you have given them for the benefit of your church and of our families we pray that you would help us to know how to support them we pray for each and every child who's about to step into a classroom perhaps a new classroom perhaps new fellow students perhaps a new teacher we pray that um your word would bear fruit in these young hearts through their labors and we pray that you would continue to bring in uh more teachers and more students and Lord we especially pray that you would save all those Souls all those little little young Souls um and that uh when they grow old they would continue to follow you and um please continue to build your church in this way and again we thank you for your faithfulness and for the faithfulness of these teachers in Jesus name amen look [Music] [Music] [Music] we have at this time the privilege to continue in prayer for the needs of the church and the body so continue join with me as we raise matters up our gracious and loving Lord God we again uh lay ourselves before you as needy creatures that seek your face that are completely dependent on your mercy we come as uh those who seek the gospel to spread around the world so we do lift up and raise concerns of those uh serving in Foreign Fields we pray your protection on them uh may they bear fruit may they be faithful as they um leaders of the church work in Asia and Africa and South America particularly bring fruit in Asia protect the local churches that may suffer persecution there and Lord bring up more men we pray that we seek your face that you will call men in training then get Ministry experience to go join in the field where there is great we have many provide those who are willing to serve and Lord we pray for local churches we pray for the church in nberg a pastor that you will provide and protect that small body we would um daughter church or sister Church in D as they are Minister um [Music] that Lord we ask for local Ministries that are serving you we do pray for expectation in Center that serves the need lied crisis provide them they quickly focus and point those in need these WS to Jesus and bless that effort Lord be with our our Witness that we would be thankful among family and friends who so desperately need the Savor in Jesus Christ give us greatness to show Express the love that we have heard of today the deep love of Jesus Le there are many needs in the congregation we pray uh for scan as he's recovering infection and up hold P bless them and provide for we ask on behalf of Ashley for her friend who's in the hospital withover from serious love illnesses um provide for the family their needs and bring out to the quick recovery we ask your blessing on as she carries a baby protect that child we make her pregnancy come to normal safe term and safe delivery and as we've expressed we rejoice in Our member EV Adam been joined in marriage to Faith bless them bless this young couple especially as they believe he goes straing back in the school and faces the rigors of study and adjustment to marriage be with Jeremy andola as they prepare bless this marriage focused on Jesus love that they Lo Grace in this and we continue to pray for Aiden and work as they um plan and prepare for in October un L than in their preparation as they seek to live their lives together for your armor GL Lord God there are many uh changes this time of the year the students going back to school bless them in the adjustments and some cases travel or bless the students that they will adapt to New School settings and be prepared for service for you in their lives in this education time of Education we ask [Music] for friend of the congregation as he adjusts to returning back home with grandmother that that you really be with them grow to serve you to love you as he address back here Lord God there are many challenging matters amongst our members um in the courts in some cases Lord we ask Grace and justice for our children of church protect them with the marriages of the church we know God we do not live up to the beautiful standard demonstrated in the Song of Solomon or to the ultimate example of Christ in the church we fail to demonstrate at home so be with us us greater love for our spouses and and better examples to the world of dependence on you and a quick turn to you for Grace Lord God we ask for our nation we pray for peace here that we may continue to have capacity to serve you freely we bless you we thank you for that we askue give us Grace in time of great tension differences Lord we are so grateful for your mercy because you your love is new every rest and Trust in the gracious love of Jesus Christ who has PA it all for us and we have thank you for that and as we join together you have taught us to [Music] pray be Kingdom your will be on Earth it is in [Music] us our our us usom and the and Glory forever amen and I'll remind you that we have a longer time of prayer this evening and you to come back at 6 and now we continue to worshiping of our gifts for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] TR [Music] [Applause] prise God from all blessings Praise In All Creatures here go hallelu hallelu Praise Him the heaven host praise Father Son and Holy Ghost hallelu hallelu hallelu Hallelujah [Music] hallelu hear now the blessing of the Lord as you go may the Lord bless you and keeped you may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace amen amen e