God's Lament: Hope Amidst Rebellion and Redemption

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Think of this: this comes from the mouth of God himself, "I raised children and they rebelled against me." God said that. Now, some very obvious things that emerge from that: one is God has children. The reference here, of course, is to Israel. God brought the twelve tribes descended from Jacob out of slavery. [00:01:10]

God bonded with them as a parent bonds with a child. He invested himself in these children. He gave himself to them. Like any parent, he did this with gladness and he did it with joy because they were his children. What does it cost to raise a child, by the way? [00:02:08]

But here's God, and he is the father. He's the loving parent. He has made these children the constant object of his loving affection. He gave them a home. He brought them into the land of Canaan. He fed them when they were in the desert with manna and then brought them into a land that was flowing with milk and honey. [00:03:50]

God knows what it is when your children don't want to listen to you. And then God knows what it is for rebel children not to want him in their life, not to know him. Look at verse 3: the Ox knows its owner, the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. [00:06:02]

You can't be a better father than God, and God says, "I raised children, and they rebelled against me." So there is some real help and there is some real comfort here for troubled parents. God knows your pain. That's the first comfort. And here's the second: it's important for you to know that even children raised by the most perfect father ended up rebelling against him. [00:07:45]

Israel had been blessed as a nation. They carried the name of God. They experienced the blessing of God, and according to these verses, they also turned away from God. And that, it seems to me, speaks to our nation today. I am not, of course, drawing a direct parallel between Israel and America. [00:08:56]

Christianity in America is becoming increasingly about us. "What do people want?" becomes the default question for ministry, more interested in fulfilling our desires than in obeying God's commands, more interested in what pleases us, what do I like, what do we want, as opposed to seriously searching what is God looking for in regards to us. [00:11:27]

The doctrine of the remnant is simply this: that even when large numbers of people fall away, God has some who continue to be faithful, and his work is continued through them. That's a doctrine of the remnant: that even when large numbers of people fall away, God always has some who continue to be faithful. [00:21:16]

Think of Isaiah 1 and Isaiah 53. In Isaiah 1, there is a wounded body, and it is the wounded body of God's rebel children. In Isaiah 53, there's another wounded body, and it's the wounded body of God's one and only Son. In Isaiah 1, God's children are struck down; they are smitten. [00:28:23]

What is the work of the Holy Spirit that's revealed to us in the New Testament? It is to gather the people of God. It's to awaken rebel children and to show them their need of a savior and to bring them to this Savior who loves them and gave himself for them in repentance and in faith. [00:30:41]

There are people who do not know God, who have forsaken the Lord, who despised holiness, were laden with iniquity, whose wounds are like open sores, and who ultimately will be divided, isolated, vulnerable, and alone. And by God's grace and through the work of the Holy Spirit and because of the Redeemer, he is gathering together a people who do know him. [00:31:36]

We are praying that you will gather true children who know you, who pursue holiness because they love you, whose iniquity is pardoned, whose wounds are being healed, and who are no longer alone because we are gathered together in the body. And we pray that by your grace, we may be such children. [00:33:27]

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