This is the audio (27:27, 31.4MB) of a sermon delivered at Lansdale Presbyterian Church on September 1 entitled, “God With Us, God For Us.” The text is 2 Chronicles 36:14-23.

Here is an excerpt:

What did Israel do with this blessing that God had given them—the blessing of his own presence? It says that they were unfaithful, that they “followed all the abominations of the nations,” that they “polluted the house of YHWH.”

Have you ever been given a really wonderful gift that you just carelessly ruined? An expensive book that slid off the back of the toilet into the water? A new smart-phone left in your pocket, and run through the wash? A sculpture or painting dropped and broken? You know that sinking feeling? Have you ever been on the other side of the equation—have ever seen a gift you’ve given treated carelessly or even destroyed? How does that feel?

How much more does God have the right to be angry when human beings sin against him? Too often we treat with so little reverence all the blessings that he’s given us—our lives and the lives of others, our families, the sun and rain, the air we breathe, His precious Son, his Holy Spirit, his written word. We sin just as grievously as the Israelites when we reject these things, because ultimately we are rejecting God’s greatest gift: himself. He wanted to live with his people, so he built a cloth tent, and a stone temple, and took on human flesh—and yet he was rejected.

Audio and text: ©2013 by Benjamin D. Giffone. Reproduction and distribution are permitted, providing that the author is properly credited and that no fee is charged.