Oaths, Vows and Repentance Part 1

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Shabbat shalom, good morning everybody.

I hope you guys have had a blessed week and have entered into this new biblical year with a season of joy and celebration.

How many of you were here Thursday night for our Rosh Hashanah?

Wasn't that a great service?

That was very encouraging.

Both Chris and I talked about it afterwards and just we were both very deeply encouraged by that.

I'm having to use the handheld microphone because apparently my frequency of my body is not right.

I don't think there's anything wrong with my frequency.

I think there's something wrong with that receiver.

But anyway, that's why we're doing this today.

Repeat after me.

Ani dodi vedodi li.

Congratulations, you just spoke in tongues.

No, I'm just kidding.

Whenever we go to Israel, a lot of the tourists like to get jewelry or artwork and a lot of times they enjoy having some significant biblical phrase engraved on their jewelry or in that artwork and this Hebrew phrase, ani dodi vedodi li, is one of the ones that's very, very popular, especially with husbands and wives, because it simply means I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine.

And all of God's people said, "Aww, isn't that sweet?

Ani dodi vedodi li."

Why is that significant to the season we're in right now?

Well, we've just finished the month of Elul.

Now I have to be real honest with you.

I'm not going to stand up here and tell you that the first day of Elul I thought, "Oh my goodness, it's Elul."

I didn't.

But I am aware of the fact that when we enter this time of the year, this month that precedes the month of Tishri where we come to the first of Tishri and we celebrate the feast of trumpets, that Elul is a month where we begin kind of spiritual preparation.

The ancient Israelites, the Jewish people took time to begin focusing on the reality that the day of the trumpets was coming, that the day of atonement was coming, and that they should begin to prepare their hearts and their minds and getting themselves right with the Lord.

The name Elul is said to be, and I can't prove it, I just read it, so I'm going to share it, but it's said to be an acronym for Ani dodi vedodi li.

I am my beloved and my beloved is mine.

And when I think about why we come, what's going on in that month of preparation, I think that that's a really cool thing because it's during that time that every morning, every day they will sound the shofar once calling the people to repentance and preparation.

But what is more significant to me than that is that it is a season to press into what my beloved wants from me.

It's a season of intimacy.

It's a season of, if he is mine and I am his, then I want to know what is his heart.

What does he want?

My wife was telling me the other night something about the fact that I don't listen to her.

I'm not exactly sure what she was saying.

It was something about that.

Actually, it was last night and I was being scolded.

Let's just be honest.

Let's not lie in church.

Come on, man.

I know sometimes trying to figure out what your beloved wants, we get easily distracted.

Can I get a holy, "Mmm."

Come on, man, a grunt.

Sometimes we miss what our wives want because we're just not, don't tell them I admitted this, we're just not paying attention.

We're distracted or we just can't do more than one thing at a time.

But what a cool time to come together and begin to think, "Well, what does my beloved want?"

And I don't know if you've ever had that moment.

I have never had this moment where I inadvertently got something or gave something or did something for my wife that she didn't really want.

It's never happened.

I've always been spot on.

Amen, man, right?

But what a crummy moment it would be to think that you had done, that you had heard your beloved.

What an embarrassing moment it would be to think that you had really committed yourself to doing for your beloved and giving your beloved what your beloved really wanted only to find out that you had completely missed the mark, that you hadn't heard what was really the heartbeat of your beloved.

That would be a terrible time, wouldn't it?

Matthew chapter 9, Jesus has just finished the Sermon on the Mount and He has returned to Capernaum which has now become His home base.

And after several amazing miracles testifying to who He really was, amazing them not only with His teaching but the miraculous outpouring of the miracles, Jesus has already begun to irritate the scribes and the Pharisees.

It started on that mountain when He used literally the entire Sermon on the Mount as a juxtaposition between Jesus' Torah and their traditions.

In fact, throughout the whole Gospel of Matthew, the scribes and the Pharisees become the juxtaposition between not only what Jesus is teaching but their tradition, but also between the sinners and tax collectors and the scribes and Pharisees.

And you'll remember who Jesus likes to hang out with.

These scribes and Pharisees literally become the poster children of what not to do to fulfill the heart of God.

After calling a tax collector to become one of His inner circle of disciples, the Pharisees see Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners and they ask, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

And Jesus' answer is this, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

But go and learn what this means.

I desire compassion, not sacrifice.

For I did not come to call the righteous but the sinners."

Now this was not just a one-off answer for Jesus because later in Matthew 12, He is confronted again by a group of scribes and Pharisees having seen Jesus and the disciples moving through a grain field.

The disciples became hungry and they began to pick the heads of grain and I guess you have to kind of rub it in your hands to shuck it and get to the meat of the grain and that's forbidden according to them on the Sabbath.

And so they ask, "Why are your disciples doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

And Jesus reminds them of David, King David who went into the tabernacle and took from the table of showbread to feed his men because they were hungry and yet he was not guilty.

He reminds them of how the priests serve on the Sabbath and they literally work in the temple but they're not guilty of breaking the Sabbath.

He then tells them plainly that something is in their midst that is greater than even the temple and he's referring to himself.

And then he turns, returns to what he has said before, "But if you had known what this means," the very thing that he had earlier said, "Go and learn what this means," he now says, "If you had known what this means, I desire mercy, compassion, and not sacrifice.

You would not have condemned the innocent."

Ani dodi ve dodi li.

I am my beloved and my beloved is mine.

But when we come to this season, do we really know the heart of the beloved?

Do we really know what it is that he would desire most from us in this time?

We're going to see Jesus say some pretty, well just blunt things today.

He's going to call some people out that are 100% convinced that they know what God desires.

I want to ask you for a moment of humility.

Are we in this room today, are you willing to risk hearing the word of Jesus confront our arrogance?

Are we willing to let Jesus ask us, "Do you really know what I want?"

We pray with me.

Abba Father, I come to you in the name of Yeshua the Messiah, the mighty one, the Redeemer, our friend and our Savior, our beloved who laid down his life for us.

Father, today as we journey into the pages of your word, especially into the words of Jesus himself, my prayer would be that you would speak to each and every heart, that you would take this message to the corners of our spirit, our mind, our heart, wherever those areas are that we have closed off to you, whatever those areas are that we think are settled.

And let us hear your word.

And may it be from you and not me, and only for your glory.

I pray this in Yeshua's name, amen.

So this morning I want us to consider what exactly is the desire or what should be the desire, our desire for the beloved during this season.

And again, I pray that we will have the humility, as I've been praying this week, that I would have the humility to accept the fact that sometimes I might have thought that I was so sure about what the Lord and what the Master wanted, only to discover sometimes that no, that was more about what I wanted.

Eating grain on the Sabbath and sitting with tax collectors and sinners doesn't seem like a reality that is quite frankly very connected to us.

But there are actually topics that are going to come up at this season of the year because they have become an integral part of the celebration of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that are going to speak directly to these issues.

They are actually issues that we're going to see are incredibly significant in Jesus' teaching and His conflict with the scribes and Pharisees.

During this month of Elul or the prior month, we were seeking to enter into repentance and reconciliation with those we have issues in our lives.

But Judaism also emphasizes the need to address some other significant topics in our walk in righteousness.

They come up very heavily at this time of year.

It is making sure that we not only have repented for our sin, but that we have taken time to seek repentance for our vows and our oaths.

Now how many of you — let's be honest — how many of you have spent this year worrying even 10 seconds about your vows and your oaths?

It's not even terminology that we think about very much.

So let's simplify it and just talk about keeping your word.

Letting your walk be as your talk.

And there are two things that come up at this time of the year that in Judaism they really focus during this season leading into Rosh Hashanah and leading towards Yom Kippur.

One is the failure to fulfill your word or your vow.

The other is to foolishly — is to look at those things that we have said throughout the year, those foolish things that have come out of our mouth.

Those condemning things, those thoughtless things, those things that we have said that we can neither fulfill nor did we ever really intend to.

Now this emphasis, quite honestly, is not without merit.

Meaning this actually is a topic that is good for us to think about, not just at this time of year, but any time.

Because Jesus is going to spend an enormous amount of time talking about this very subject.

However, at the time of Jesus, vows and oaths were very much a significant aspect of their religion and their culture.

So much so that the scribes and Pharisees had extensive teachings about vows, netarim, and oaths, shevaim.

There's whole sections on it in the Talmud.

This topic was so prevalent — and this may shock you — that it literally consumes and takes the center stage as one of the most critical conflicts that Jesus has with the scribes and the Pharisees.

I mean when Jesus is going to set up the juxtaposition between their false interpretations and their false traditions, He is going to expose them with the truth, what I call the Torah of Yeshua, Jesus' teaching.

This is going to become one of the most significant things.

It is going to be the truth of what Jesus taught and the correct interpretations that He gives versus what the traditions, the traditions of the Pharisees and what they practice.

And let me just try to put it as kindly as I can, Jesus is not impressed with them at all.

How do I know this?

It comes up repeatedly.

Now this, again, this may shock you, but Brent, you're saying this is a topic that comes up repeatedly in the text and I don't even think too much about it.

Well, hopefully after I show it to you in the text today, you're going to say, "Oh, wow, it really is a little bit more important than I ever really realized."

I would go so far as to say it is one of the most important and central topics to not only to all of Jesus' teaching, but it is central to the story as Matthew is recording it.

That's how important it is.

Meaning this topic of oaths and vows becomes one of the primary accusations that Jesus uses against them.

Now if Jesus is my beloved, is Yeshua your beloved?

That was a little weak.

Is Yeshua your beloved?

Do you want to do what He desires?

Well, how can we do that if we don't listen to what He says?

Husbands, you know, there's other ways that needs to be applied.

I'll let you, I think you know what I'm talking about.

In the introduction I pointed out that Jesus' accusation that these religious leaders do not know the will of the beloved because He has to tell these men.

Now understand who He's saying this to.

Understand how offensive, how shocking it is to say to the scribes, the lawyers, the experts in the law, "Hey, you know what guys?

You need to go back and study some more."

Ouch.

You need to go learn because if you need to learn something, what does that mean?

You obviously don't know it.

He said you need to go learn what this phrase means.

Then He says if you had known what it meant, again implying how wrong they were, they wouldn't have passed judgment.

Now Chris and I have been talking about a future coming series on the sermon on the kingdom, so I'm not going to dive too deep into that today, but there are some parts I want to highlight.

But for now please understand the Pharisees' ignorance and misapplication on this topic is really, really significant because it's going to become the topic of the nullification of vows and oaths.

If you turn with me to Matthew 23, I'm not going to read long sections today, I'm just going to tell you about them.

The final denunciation, we're going to kind of work from the back of the book towards the front.

We're going to start where Jesus ends with the Pharisees.

Matthew 23, Jesus says that these scribes and Pharisees, they have seated themselves in the seat of Moses.

They have appropriated the right of interpretation and application by their arrogance and their narcissism.

He goes on to describe how they love the places of honor and banquet and marketplaces and synagogues.

Can I just do a little sidebar here?

Church, God has given us the spirit of discernment, amen?

And we're supposed to understand something.

And too many times, the body of Christ has sat there listening to men and women that were blatantly flowing in narcissistic arrogance, and we sat there anyway.

And Jesus, when he gets to the end of this in Matthew 23, he makes it clear, if you're sitting under a narcissist, if you're sitting under some arrogant person that thinks they are the end all, if you're sitting under someone who has seated themselves in the seat of Moses, run the other direction.

Don't tell your—don't sit there and say, "But it'll be okay.

It will not be okay."

These were Israel's teachers, and it was not okay.

Their arrogance and their narcissism was on full display.

And sometimes we look at ministries today and we see ministries go directions we don't want—I don't understand what happened.

Really?

You sat there and you watched all of the self-aggrandizement, you heard all of the self-promotion, and it didn't dawn on you something was wrong?

Jesus in Matthew 23 then proceeds to chastise them with seven woes to the scribes and Pharisees.

Now if this is your last hurrah with these people, and it really is, it's the last time Jesus is going to, you know, confront them, you're going to lay out and you're going to hold nothing back, and you're going to address what is most important.

Of the seven woes that Jesus pronounces, listen to this one, Matthew 23, 16, "Woe to you blind guides who say whoever swears by the temple that is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of temple, the temple is obligated."

And I realize that doesn't seem like a big issue in your life today, does it?

But understand what's going on here.

These men who are the teachers and the lawyers and the experts, because of their narcissism, I mean you can't listen to this again, "Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing."

Excuse me?

The temple, the edifice of where the shekinah, that's nothing?

That's nothing.

If you swear an oath or a vow by that, truth is you're not obligated.

Unless you swear by the gold of the temple.

Come on.

Are you kidding me?

This screams two words, loophole.

This screams of an interpretation that was designed to let people off the hook of their vows and their oaths, and oh well, you know, remember when we were little kids and you'd say something?

And then how did you get out of it?

I had my fingers crossed.

Y'all never did that?

Y'all were more honest than I was.

No, no, I'll do it.

Had my fingers crossed.

Guys, this is the original, had my fingers crossed.

I didn't swear by the temple.

Ha ha, gotcha.

I didn't swear by the gold of the temple.

He goes on.

Remember so politely, you fools and blind men, and I mean that as nicely as possible.

You fools and blind men, which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?

And then he gives another example.

And whoever swears by the altar, that's nothing.

Can you even fathom this coming out of the mouths of these teachers of the… That's nothing.

No obligation is created.

But if you swear by the offering on the altar, boom baby, now it's legal.

What is this scream?

Loophole.

A way out.

Are you beginning to get the picture of how important this topic is to our Master?

Before this final scathing denunciation, Jesus had also called them out on another way that they were finding loopholes to get out of their responsibilities.

Let's go back in the book Matthew 15, 1.

Then some of the Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?

For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."

And He answered and said to them, I'm laughing because I want to say it how I would say it.

So I'll read it how I would say it.

And why do you yourselves transgress the commandments of God for the sake of your tradition?

A boom.

They come up and they, why are you setting aside the traditions?

He comes up and says, why are you setting aside the commandments?

You're going to go off on me about the traditions?

Are you kidding me right now?

He said, "For God said, honor your father and mother, and he who speaks evil of his father or mother is to be put to death.

But you say, whoever says to his father or mother what I have that would be of help to you has been dedicated to God so he is not to honor his father or mother.

By this you invalidate the word of God for the sake of your tradition."

Loophole.

Why would they do that?

Because at some point in time after their mom and dad have passed on, they're going to redeem that back for their own benefit.

Do you get the understanding?

Do you understand?

Jesus doesn't like this.

This nullification of your word.

This trying to find a loophole to get you out of doing what you know you're supposed to do.

You're a fan.

So let's go all the way back to the Sermon on the Mount and see how important this topic is.

Matthew 5 17.

Jesus says, "I have not come to nullify the law and the prophets, but I've come to fulfill."

Now notice this is how he kind of introduces this whole conflict with them by saying, "Here's the difference between you and me.

I didn't come to nullify the word of God, but through the course of my life and my ministry I'm going to expose that is exactly what you're doing."

Maybe you've never seen it that way.

But that's what he's doing.

He's getting ready to expose.

Don't tell me I'm the one that came to nullify the law and the prophets, boys.

You're the ones that are doing that every time you open your mouth.

Matthew 5 19.

Whoever annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

He then goes on and says that our righteousness would have to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees or we will not even enter the kingdom of heaven.

Well here's a good way to start.

Stop annulling the word of God.

Now we don't have time to go into all the weeds on this, but this verse does not prove the rest of the story in regard to the Gentiles' non-Jewish relationship to the Torah.

We can talk about that some other time.

This is not a proof text on that.

This is a proof text that Jesus is not coming to nullify the word of God.

That's not the point of his ministry.

Now church please hear me.

Do you want to do the will of the beloved?

Then nullifying your oaths and vows and nullifying his word is not his heart.

Now please, please do not hear, think, oh what he's saying is you've got to keep the law.

I'm just going to say it as plainly as I can.

I am not under the law, the law is under me.

It is the foundation, it is not the roof.

Yeshua is my righteousness.

Amen?

But I stand on a firm foundation.

I stand on revelation.

I stand on that truth.

I stand on the word that he is the fulfillment of.

I don't nullify it.

Jesus has not come to nullify either the words of the law or the prophets and he's not come to give us loopholes.

Jesus is going to expose how they go about nullifying the commandments of the Torah with their traditions and then they do exactly what he says not to do.

They teach others to do the same.

They literally teach how not to keep your word.

So Jesus' first juxtaposition is how he will teach us to fulfill against how they nullify.

He will then begin addressing a series of topics which will expose by contrast exactly what they have been doing.

And again, we'll take more time when we do a series on this, but he begins with the subject of murder.

And Jesus calls them out and says, you know, you've heard it said, "You shall not murder," but I'm telling you, if you have anger in your heart or if you say all these malicious things to people… Now let me tell you who's sitting there on that hill that day.

There are a group of people who are truly seeking him, truly following him, truly mesmerized by him, and there's also a whole host of scribes and Pharisees who normally wouldn't associate with the vast majority of those people.

They spend most of their time wanting those people to honor and revere them while they sit there and hold them in contempt.

Matthew 11, the disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus and they're looking, you know, they ask, "Are you the one or should we expect another?"

And Jesus gives five descriptions, you know, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, etc.

And then he adds a sixth, and what this blows me away because this is supposed to be as amazing as the first five.

And the poor have the gospel, the good news, preached to them.

And all of God's people said, "Wow!"

I mean, let's be honest.

The fact that the poor guy gets preached to doesn't exactly excite my soul the way watching a man who was blind see.

Come on, am I wrong?

I mean, you're not going to leave this place today and go tell everybody, "Oh, you have got to come to HFF on Saturday.

A bunch of poor people are hearing the good news," like you would if someone walked out of here with a supernatural healing.

But you should.

Why was that such a telltale sign for Jesus?

Because the scribes and Pharisees didn't waste time with the poor people.

They held them in contempt.

They wouldn't return their greeting.

"Shalom Aleichem, brother."

I said, "Shalom Aleichem, brother."

Oh, okay.

See, that's what the crowds knew about them.

And Jesus says the poor have the gospel preached.

That's a sign because it's such a stark contrast to what He's doing and what they're doing.

Jesus tells them to stop standing at the altar and go be reconciled to their brother.

Now church, hear me.

Jesus does not give a rip about your service, your liturgy, your shofar, your altar, your church attendance, nothing.

If you have ought with your brother, go do what you have to do and be reconciled.

Because if you're not, you're just looking for loopholes.

Come on.

It's not going to be easy today.

Do you hear the heart of the beloved when He tells you, "Go and be reconciled."

And the interesting thing is if you read through that, it sounds like the person who has to go to the other person is actually the guilty party.

They have ought with you because you done went and messed up.

Leave your offering and go do righteousness.

Because this is what the beloved wants.

He wants mercy and compassion and reconciliation.

He isn't wowed by the sound of the shofar coming from the same mouth that passes judgment and condemnation on others.

Do we know what this means?

I desire compassion and not sacrifice.

Jesus teaches them about adultery and divorce, topics which we'll explore more later.

But for now notice adultery is a violation of your vow and your oath of marriage.

Divorce is nullification of vows and oaths.

Jesus addresses these two topics because once again the Pharisees have a whole host of loopholes and by the way when we finally come to that topic, you're going to be surprised that it's not what you think it is.

I remember being in Jerusalem at a street called Ben Yehuda Street one evening years ago in the 90s.

And I saw an ultra-orthodox man.

And I don't say this to pass judgment on him, it's just an example.

But I was shocked because it's a very, it's a place where young people come out and hang out and people shop.

It wasn't the place that I expected to see an ultra-orthodox Jewish man.

And I asked some young Israelis who were standing there, I said, "What's he doing?"

Because he looked like he was kind of on a mission.

And they all started laughing.

And I said, "What's going on?"

They said, "Well, he's looking for a prostitute."

And I'm like, "What?"

Yeah, because these descendants of the Pharisees have a small number, and I'm not, please don't, I'm not impugning all of Orthodox Jewish Judaism with this.

But there are some who've created the loophole because a man can't be with his wife during her cycle that he can go be with somebody else.

Loophole.

Jesus then begins to talk specifically about oaths and vows.

Four topics into the Sermon on the Mount.

Are you aware of this?

Four topics into the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is talking about this topic.

Matthew 5, 33 and 37, "Again you have heard the ancients were told, 'You shall not make false vows, but you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.'

But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king, nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make, you cannot make one hair white or black, but let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Anything beyond these is of evil."

Is anyone unclear at this point how Messiah feels about the subject of making and breaking vows and oaths?

Has he just, come on Jesus, if you could just be a little bit more direct.

Is anyone unclear as to how utterly disgusted he is with the way in which the scribes and Pharisees have taught people to nullify their vows and oaths and covenant responsibilities?

We've traced it all the way through the book and I'm sure there's more we haven't touched.

Is there anyone here who having traced this central topic doesn't realize, doesn't recognize that Jesus does not value their teaching?

So why is this topic so relevant today?

Because every year when we come to the month of Elul and we begin to move towards that first day of Tishri, when we're going to sound the shofar and then we're going to enter in where we are right now, ten days of awe and repentance, there are traditions that have been passed down through the descendants of these same scribes and Pharisees that are practiced in Jewish synagogues around the world, even in some messianic synagogues.

One is called Haderot, Netarim, and Shevaim.

What it means is that on the night just before Rosh Hashanah, this is a ceremony where a Jewish person goes before a court of three men to seek the nullification of their vows and their oaths.

And here's the thing about this ceremony or this ritual, both this one and the next one I'm going to tell you about, they're not entirely sure if it's the nullification of vows and oaths from the year from the last Yom Kippur to here, or if it's about from this new year to the next Yom Kippur.

So in modern Judaism sometimes the liturgy actually has both because Judaism doesn't really agree on it.

And then when we come to the night of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, there is a liturgical prayer called Kol Nidre, Nidre comes from the same word Netarim, which means the nullification of all vows.

So what I'm saying is that as Israel throughout their history they have passed down, and now that you kind of see the history of it in the Gospel of Matthew, you understand this was a big issue.

And so it shouldn't surprise you that when we come to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that Judaism has some traditions about what do we do about those foolish things that we've said, those foolish vows that we've made, those things we said we would do and didn't do, and I'm sure none of you have any of those in your life, it's a relevant topic.

It was relevant enough for Jesus to spend an enormous amount of time on it, but it was relevant enough because he was saying these men don't know what they're talking about.

Now just a little background on these, and by the way, I have messianic Jewish friends and non-messianic Jewish friends who will participate in these, and this is not, it's to say anything negative about them at all.

But I want you to understand the origin of this, because it's one of those origin stories that we're not sure about.

Some say the Kol Nidre and this other one actually come from the seventh century, and it's a way, it was a way for the Jewish people who had been forced to convert to Christianity by the Inquisition to secretly come to a court of three or to pray the Kol Nidre and nullify anything they had said that could be construed as a conversion to faith in Yeshua as the Messiah.

Well this just got awkward.

Now there's no way to really prove that.

I'm just sharing what people have said.

Another controversial element to these is that according to the mystic Jews, the Kabbalists, that this wasn't just a prayer to nullify our vows to God, but it was a plea for God to nullify His vows.

How many of you know that God is never going to break His word?

How many of you know the day God nullifies His vows, we're all in big trouble?

You realize that you are born again not because He nullified the law that condemned you, but because He fulfilled the law so He could give you grace.

He didn't set it aside, He fulfilled it on your behalf.

I'm not praying a prayer asking God to nullify His vows.

Not happening.

Now contextually, contextually it is asking Him to be gracious about His judgments that may be planned for the coming year, but it also gets uncomfortable because they're also and this is just one sect of Judaism, this one section, but it's also uncomfortable because they're asking Him to nullify His vows because He hasn't brought the redemption, He hasn't brought the Messiah.

Do you understand why this just suddenly got uncomfortable?

There's no one in this room that loves Jewish people more than I do, I promise you that, but I'm not, Messiah has come, amen?

Atonement is no longer in the blood of bulls and goats, amen?

I'm sorry they don't yet see that, but it doesn't change the fact that Messiah did come and God was true to His word.

Now a controversy erupted between Christians back in that time and the Jews because when the Christians heard that they had these services where they were nullifying all their vows and ohs, the Christians said well then how can you trust them in a court of law?

They can just come up and say whatever.

Now listen, this is an anti-Semitic trope, alright?

I don't think it was, I don't think the Christians were right about this.

I don't think that's the intent of what, why these traditions developed, but this is just one of the traditions, this is one of the controversies.

And by the way, I don't, that may not be historically true, but I'll tell you one thing, do you want to be known as someone who keeps their word or not?

I don't want to have to even raise my hand and put my hand on a Bible for someone to know my yes is my yes and my no is my no, why?

Because that's the heart of my beloved.

That's the way we are called to live.

The other uncomfortable aspect of this is that all of these and much, much more liturgy and tradition was created and passed down by men who rejected the kingship of Jesus and do not believe in his atonement.

Now that doesn't mean there's not much, there's nothing we can learn.

You come to my library, I promise you, I have a whole wall of Jewish commentaries and I love the rich information that I get from them.

But when it comes to atonement and forgiveness, I turn to my master.

So in this season, have we become like those men who need to hear the master say, "Go and learn what this means."

I desire compassion.

Now that's a quote from Hosea 6.6 and the word there is hesed, which I know is a Hebrew word many of you are familiar with.

It means covenant loyalty, loving kindness, and mercy.

He says, "I desire covenant loyalty, kindness, and mercy, not sacrifice."

But there is no covenant loyalty when we're not true to our words.

There is no loving kindness and mercy when we seek loopholes to nullify our responsibilities to do the things our master has called us to do.

Jesus said, "If you had known what these words mean, I desire compassion and not sacrifice."

You would not have condemned the innocent.

And it's impossible to not think about what happens sometimes at this time of the year when everybody is arguing about the right date and the right way and the right words and the right songs and the right prayers and all of this.

And oh my goodness, if you don't do it this way on this day and all this, I would like to suggest if we had known what these words meant, we would not have condemned the innocent.

Church, the divinely appointed times of the Lord are indeed a sacred season of repentance and turning to God, but they also represent a time of genuinely searching our hearts to see if we know and are living what our beloved truly wants.

So by way of application, I really want to talk to your heart for a minute.

I want to talk to you for just a few minutes about the other side of repentance.

What do I mean by that?

When we think of sacrifice, we usually think in terms of something that someone needed to go and offer at the altar in the process of seeking forgiveness of sins.

When we think of repentance, we normally think of things that we have done for which we need to seek forgiveness.

Callous words and empty words and promises all fall into that category.

In quoting Hosea 6, Jesus wasn't saying that God despised sacrifice or ritual or liturgy.

All of those things were simply designed to bring us to the awareness of the heart of God.

But in this season of repentance, I want to suggest to you that I have experienced two things in my life in ministry over the years.

One is that—is what I have found in the world.

In the world, I find people who are separated from God because of their sin.

They don't want to come to God in repentance because they are either afraid of Him or they are just too in love with their sin.

And in being in love with their sin, the truth of the matter is they are in love with themselves.

They fear His judgment or they fear having to give something else up.

But in the body of Christ—so I'm talking to you now and to me—quite honestly, there's a bigger problem that separates us from God, and it's not the sin I've committed.

You see, what I found in the church is that most of you have—most of us have no problem going to Jesus and begging repeatedly over and over and over again, "Forgive me, forgive me again, forgive me again.

Hey, here I'm back.

I'm—forgive me."

I mean, we stand on 1 John 1, 9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Amen?

That's your liturgy.

But there's something else that our Master told us to do that I think is a greater barrier for us than when we come to this thing, "Oh, I gotta get right.

I gotta get me right.

I gotta say why I'm sorry for all the things I've done."

Because that's easy.

What isn't so easy is doing what our Master taught us to do.

Forgive us this day our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.

Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.

Go and be reconciled.

Leave your sacrifice at the altar and go do what really thrills the heart of the Father.

Go show compassion and mercy even if you're the one that caused the offense.

You see, it's easy to come to Jesus over and over and say, "Lord, please forgive me.

Please forgive me."

And Jesus, "Okay, I want to forgive you.

I got one thing I need you to go do.

I need you to go forgive that person who hurt you at church.

I need you to forgive that family member that hurt you as a child.

I need you to get over that mean-spirited boss, that mean-spirited coworker, that mean-spirited friend, whoever.

I need you to go forgive them as I have forgiven you."

And he wasn't — you know, we talk about, boy, he really stuck it to the Pharisees and scribes, didn't he?

Yeah, we kind of like that, right?

If you will not forgive them, I will not forgive you.

Unclear?

So what are you really saying, Jesus?

You want me to sound a shofar?

If I show up for an extra service this week, that's good?

No.

I want you to drop the pretense of thinking that you can use these things as loopholes for not doing what I called you to do.

I'm sorry, genuinely, if you have church hurt.

I really am.

But at some point in time, regardless of where your pain comes from, you're going to have to answer the question, "Am I more in love with my pain than my Savior?"

"But Lord, I have a right to be hurt."

Yeah, you do.

What happened to you hurt?

He didn't have a right to be hurt, and he hurt for you anyway.

Go and do righteousness.

There's no loophole, my friends, in this season.

There's no liturgy, there's no trumpet call, there's no prayer, there's nothing that will remove from us the responsibility of doing what our Savior called us to do, no matter how painful it is.

And listen, I understand, as I've been thinking about this message, my list is longer than what I like to admit of people that I need to—and quite honestly, I'm not going to get it done by next week on the Day of Atonement.

Part of that is because they have lives, and there's just the realities of life.

And we'll tell you right now, going on Facebook and saying, "Well, if I've offended you by, you know, anything, well, that's not the way it works."

I'm sorry, that's not the way it works.

You don't nullify your obligation, you fulfill your obligation to go and repent and seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

Do you see how relevant this topic actually is to us?

Because every brand of Christianity, every flavor, it doesn't matter, Messianic, Hebrew roots, Christian, church, charismatic, it doesn't matter, we all have ways where we find loopholes.

But do we know the heart of the Savior?

Worship team, please come back.

This is not a season of nullifying my word.

It's a season of getting ready to walk in His word.

We must not let this sacred season become a time.

Please hear this.

Because let's just be honest, a lot of us have been in camps where this is exactly what happened.

We cannot let this time become a season, are you with me, where we seat ourselves in the seat of Moses.

Well, I've never done that.

Well, it's this, it's supposed to be on this day, and it's supposed to be this calendar.

To be honest, I couldn't figure out when Rosh Hashanah was this week.

There's so many competing, and there's voices, "Well, you're doing it on the wrong day, you're doing it at the wrong time."

Some of us come from an entire movement who decided to seat themselves in the seat of Moses.

And what did they immediately begin to do?

Pass judgment on the innocent, who are just loving Jesus, just doing their best to care for their family and sharing the good news.

And Jesus says, "Do you even know what this means?

I desire mercy and compassion."

So we have a choice this season and actually as this new year begins.

Two challenges, individual and corporate.

One, if you're sitting there today and you find yourself uncomfortably aware that maybe you have nestled yourself down in the seat of Moses, maybe it's time to get up and start paying attention to the one who was enthroned at the right hand of the majesty of heaven and start living for him and not you.

Maybe this coming year is not about telling everybody how right I am about this day or that.

But, hey, maybe it's time for me just to shut up and listen to my master because where he is seated is way better than where we want to be.

Second challenge, and I put this out as a congregation, as individuals.

God's been doing some great things here at HFF, amen?

I mean over 200 here the other night, littles all over the place.

God's doing some great things.

What would happen in a congregation that said, "Okay, here's our commitment.

Between now and next Yom Kippur, we're going to commit ourselves to learning what does it mean to desire mercy and not sacrifice.

What does that mean in my life?

How do I individually walk that out?"

Here's an idea.

Last week when you're fasting, go buy someone who's homeless lunch.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

Go and learn what that means.

Go and find out what that looks like as a congregation.

What does that mean for us?

I am my beloved and my beloved is mine and my passion as I come into this season.

I don't care if my name's inscribed.

It's already in the Lamb's Book of Life, but I'm going to tell you, whatever this year holds for me, I want to come to the end of that year and my master be pleased because I knew what he said and I knew what he meant.

I gave mercy to those who didn't deserve it and I sought forgiveness from those I had sinned against.

He is my beloved and I want to do everything to please him, not just in this season, but for the rest of my life.

Amen.