John 12:27-33 (The Shaking of the Savior)

The Shepherd's Church

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Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

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Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

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Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you

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I love preaching sermons like we're gonna preach today

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Maybe it's because I like to nerd out in the Old Testament and you're already thinking. Oh, no But I love preaching sermons like I'm gonna preach today because I've been in the church ever since I was a little boy and there's so many

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Themes and so many things that I've never heard spoken about in church

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I've never heard sermons on some of the passages that we're gonna look at today

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How God is promising to shake the heavens and the earth to shake the wicked

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To shake the righteous and how that's a part of his judgment and how that's a part of his salvation so I'm excited to be able to share this theme with you this morning, and I want to begin just by Even admitting the obvious We don't like earthquakes

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So when God talks about shaking things it may strike fear in our hearts

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I've been through one very small probably a one on the Richter scale Earthquake I woke up and Everything was vibrating and it stopped and I was like,

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I hope that never happens to me again It was the strangest feeling We've probably seen videos from the

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San Andreas fault line in California where where these massive earthquakes have happened We've probably even seen videos of tsunamis which are underground earthquakes where tectonic plates shift and water gets thrown onto the coast in massive devastating proportions

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Every society that I can think of every Old Testament quote every New Testament quote, even every ancient quote

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Dreads this thing called earthquakes the ancients looked at as a sign of doom and a sign of Omen of judgment today.

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We really feel no more positive about it than they did back then They've been recorded ever since the dawn of time

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At least outside of the garden when sin entered into the world There's 17 earthquakes actually recorded in the

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Bible plus or minus maybe one that I missed the first one is in the third day of creation

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It says the water covered the entire earth and then the earth and the and the the land and the water separated

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So you have plates of land moving and jolting up above the water you have Essentially an earthquake there

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You have other examples where the floods Where that where the flood of Noah happened in the deep burst open and water came from the surface of the land

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That's an earthquake You have the Mount Sinai shaking when God is bringing his covenant to his people and the people are

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Terrified at this thunder and lightning and shaking glory of God You've got Calvary when

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Jesus is hanging on the cross and it says that the earth was shaking when Jesus gave up his spirit You've got the tomb when

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Jesus Rises from the dead it shakes and the Roman soldiers fall over as if they were dead

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You've got the jailhouse where Peter was at where it was shaken and he was released from his bonds

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Paul and Silas are singing late at night hymns to the Living God and the jailhouse shakes and Paul is released from his bonds

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You've got earthquakes All over the scriptures and they cause the men and women who experienced them massive amounts of anxiety

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Now we Today know a little bit more about earthquakes than they did back then I found it fascinating this week as I watched some videos

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They were made for kids, but I still learned a lot from them You ever you ever had that you've been out of school for a while This you're not smarter than a fifth grader mentality and you watch these videos and you're like, oh, that's really interesting

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So apparently the earth is made of eight tectonic plates That are all pushed together with this massive amount of pressure and the pressure is actually what locks them into place like puzzle pieces and if the pressure becomes too much one of them will bump up and one will go down and then you'll have a lot of movement in the earth and one of the reasons why that the

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California San Andreas fault line is so Active is because it doesn't bump into each other like this.

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It bumps into each other like this and it moves this way So it's a lot easier for that fault line to move.

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There's actually videos of people's houses in their backyards One fence post is here.

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The other fence post was supposed to be here but after the earthquake it's over here now because the earth has moved that pressure is what locks them into position, but Every now and then that pressure releases and causes fault lines to move and pressure to happen

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Damaging all kinds of property and you causing a tremendous amount of loss of life Now as Christians we know

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That this was not a part of the original creation We know that the earth was not made to palpitate with destructive movements like this

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So we know theologically that this stuff came into existence because of the fall which is a tremendous thing to consider

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When you and I sinned it affected not just our soul it affected the soul of the earth

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It affected the ground it affected the land it affected the trees that affected the tectonic plates that now shift because we sinned

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Now the question we have to ask ourself is if God made it perfect and Our sin caused it to tremble.

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How is God going to redeem it? How is God going to change? the current state

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Into the redeemed state and the question we have to ask ourself is as the Bible talk about this and yes it does

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But it's ironic and it's beautiful the way that God is going to fix The shaking of the earth.

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Let me read to you a passage from Hebrews 12 I think it's the most important passage when we come to this topic. How's God gonna fix earthquakes?

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He's gonna shake the world Which doesn't make sense. He's gonna fix the shaking by more shaking, but follow me will make sense in a moment

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Hebrews 12 25 through 29 says this See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

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That's God For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth.

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He's talking about the Israelites at Mount Sinai How much less will we escape? Who turned from him who warns us from heaven and his voice shook the earth then?

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But now he is promising yet. Once more. I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens

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This expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as Of created things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain therefore

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Since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken Let us show gratitude

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By which we may offer to God and acceptable servants with reverence and offer. God is a consuming fire now

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I'll admit to you that this is a complicated passage when you read it. You're like What is it talking about?

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Let's let's talk about it. Very very simply in the same way that a snake shakes off its old skin

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God is going to shake off the old world and all of the corruption and all of the sin and all of the rebellion all

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Of the brokenness he's going to use shaking To cause this world to come into alignment with him you think about a

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You think about a little creek that has gemstones in it and you get your little Your little box with the screen at the bottom of it and you put the earth in there and you let it run through the

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Water and you shake it The things that fall through are the things that are valueless the things that don't matter

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It's dirt and sediment and stuff like that But when you look at it, especially when you go to a place like I would go to as a kid called hidden night mines

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Now I know they threw rocks in the in the creek Even back then but it was fun to shake that little box and at the end of it

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You've got a piece of amethyst at the bottom or you've got a piece of topaz or a piece of smoky quartz or something

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It's because when you shake it the things that remain Stay, those are the things that are valuable and the things that fall through or the things that are not of any value

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That is what God is doing He's taking this old sinful world and he's shaking it so that all the corruption all of the sin all of the failure all of the brokenness will be removed and The only thing that remains are the things that are his

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He's gonna shake world empires. He's gonna shake kings and kingdoms. He's gonna shake sin stains curses and catastrophes right out of this earth

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Again this is not physical shaking. This is spiritual shaking that God is going to apply to this planet

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Now I believe that the New Testament shakings Began in the Gospel of John, especially in chapter 12.

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I believe that we see God beginning to do his work Here in our passage this morning

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Shaking the world out of its Old Testament form and into its New Testament form away from the temples and sacrifices and priests

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To a place that will bow the knee to Christ that everything in this earth will align to his image and his glory

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So with that I want us to turn to chapter 12 of the Gospel of John and I want us to look at three things today

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Number one. I want us to look at the shaking of Christ. I want us to see how in this passage

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Jesus shakes Based off what is getting ready to happen to him. The next thing I want us to see is how heaven shakes

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Based off of what is getting ready to happen to Jesus and then I want us to look at the shaking of the earth Because we're gonna see

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All throughout the scriptures that this has been promised all along that God is going to bring a shaking

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Jolting judgment to this world and that those things that remain are his and those things that fall away will be into eternal ruin

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So let us read John 12 27 through 33 and let us pray and then let us continue this morning it says now my soul has become troubled and What shall

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I say? Father saved me from this hour But for this purpose

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I came to this hour Father glorify your name Then a voice came out of heaven

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I have both glorified it and will glorify it again So the people the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it thundered

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Others were saying an angel had spoken to him Jesus answered and said the voice has not come for my sake but for your sakes

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Now judgment is upon this world now the ruler of the world will be cast out and I if I am lifted up from the earth

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Will draw all men to myself But he was saying this To indicate the kind of death by which he was going to die.

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Let us pray Lord I pray that you would help us today to see the importance of this minor theme this

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Small little theme that runs throughout your prophets and runs throughout the Psalms and runs throughout even books like Revelation and John Where you're gonna bring a shaking to the world

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Lord, I pray that we would see it in light of what it was intended to be seen Lord I pray that we would that we would examine our own hearts today

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Like it says in the Bible to examine ourselves to make sure that we're in the faith With fear and trembling even to consider whether we are yours

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Lord, I pray That we would Evaluate these things in a godly and righteous way this morning

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Lord Even as we see the truth of your scriptures, which causes us to have tremendous hope in Christ's name.

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Amen Now this passage is a little bit ironic when we start off It says that Jesus was troubled.

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That's the English word that we have for it. And yet You would think that this would be a moment for great rejoicing

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He was just anointed by Mary. He just rode triumphantly into the city to the praise of Jerusalem he just met these

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Gentiles and he says now my hour has come from a Worldly sort of standpoint we would look at Jesus and say your kingdom is winning.

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Why are you troubled? Now joy is gonna come for Jesus. It says for the joy set before him

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He would endure the cross for the joy he would sit at the right hand of the father and he would draw all people to himself, but in This moment

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Jesus was troubled It says that he was shaken to the core.

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You might even compare it to a level 10 earthquake rumbling inside of him the passage says

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Now my soul is troubled and what shall I say father saved me from this hour. No It was for this very reason.

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I came to this hour That word troubled there is a word in Greek called

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Tarasso Tarasso doesn't mean just troubled although that is an

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English translation of it. It means to be shaken up It means to be stirred up. It means to be to quake or to tremble

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It is the word that is often used for earthquakes in the Bible It's the same word in the chapter of John Chapter 5 where you remember the sick people are sitting around the pool waiting for the water to be troubled

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Waiting for the water to shake That's what Jesus is feeling right now. His soul is being stirred up inside of him shaken to the point of despair even

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It's the same word that's used in Isaiah 51 verse 15 in the Greek Old Testament For I am the

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Lord your God who stirs up the seas and its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name

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It's the same word in Jeremiah 4 24 where the prophet says I looked upon the mountains and behold they were quaking

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And all the hills moved to and fro. It's the same word in Psalm 46 3 Though its waters roar and foam though the mountains quake at its swelling pride

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It's the same word in 2nd Samuel 2 20 or 22 8 then the earth shook and quaked

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The foundations of heaven were trembling and were shaking because God was angry This word is a word used for earthquakes and tempestuous storms it's a word that tells us that Jesus had an earthquake of emotions a tsunami of Feelings that were running through his body

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It was causing him to be stirred up and shaken and turned over and tossed in a torrent of emotional fury

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This is an example of Jesus in his humanity Broken over the heaviness of what is getting ready to happen to him

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Have you ever felt like this? It's hard to even imagine Where you feel so captivated by your emotions that you can't even focus on anything else something has hurt you so bad

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That everything in you feel stirred up Like like your heart's been in a blender

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We felt like this at times before but I don't think That any of us in this room can really truly empathize with what

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Christ is going through here Christ is not just in an emotional turmoil.

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He's not just having big emotions because of something that's going on in his life There's other words that could have been used if that were the case.

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I think Jesus is Being stirred up to point to something to us

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But to also reveal something to us that Jesus is human and his emotions are real and in the same

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Jesus who cries tears of blood Or sweats tears of blood in the garden of Gethsemane when he's facing his own death is the same

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Jesus here who is shaking in His emotions because of what's getting ready to happen.

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He says my hour has come and then he begins to be troubled Now in the medical community, we know that this kind of shaking can happen during deep moments of emotional stress

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You see when something bad happens to us you generally speaking we have this this reaction called fight -or -flight syndrome where adrenaline is dumped into our bodies all at once and That causes us to either stand and fight or it causes us to run away

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That's what the adrenaline is there for but when you have nowhere to run and you have nothing in front of you to fight

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But the emotions that are going on inside of your heart that adrenaline has to do something And what that adrenaline often does is it causes that person to shiver to tremble to convulse even looking like the same symptoms of epilepsy

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I Believe this word is intentional here and I can't prove this

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There's a lot of words to say Jesus had a lot of emotions There's a lot of words to say Jesus was troubled without using this earthquake word

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Maybe it is That in this moment Jesus was so overcome by the emotions of the fact that he was going to die

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That Jesus who had never in eternity Felt a nanosecond of separation from the

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Living God was going to have sin poured out upon him and be Separated from his father

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We can't even imagine that we were conceived in iniquity. We were born in sin

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There's never been a moment where we've experienced sinless Perfect intimate fellowship with God and yet when

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Jesus was coming to die for us. He was putting that on the line It says he who knew no sin became sin for us

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He who only knew perfect fellowship with the father was going to have the father's face turned away from him in covenantal fury to die for us and he had inescapable sorrow as He faced this moment

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His body his soul his mind and his heart were shaking because of it

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Now I don't say this For any other reason than to just point out the fact of what he's done for us

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He left heaven So that he could die for us on earth He left perfect fellowship with the father so that he could be crucified in front of thieves and criminals

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The sacrifice that he made for us we can't even fathom Even taking himself to the physical and emotional limits of his own

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Humanity so that he is shaking under the prospect of what God has called him to do

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But I want you to look at our Lord's resolve It says now my soul is troubled

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It's shaking and quaking because his hour has come but what shall I say Jesus says

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Father saved me from this hour. No, it was for this very reason that I came

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Again, you and I can't really identify with this. Can we? Because when the going gets tough we quit

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How many times? Have we had problems at work and we just find a new job?

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because It's too hard for us how many times in marriages do we see husbands and wives who who don't get along anymore?

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They say we've fallen out of love and they give up on their vows because it got a little bit hard The earthquake started happening in the relationship and they gave up.

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How often do we see that? How often the teenagers feel misunderstood and they say I just can't wait until I get out of this place and I go live

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Out on my own because that's what we do when when things get hard in our life. We quit

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We have a pattern of it, but as Jesus walked up the hill called

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Calvary He didn't quit He didn't quit on you. He didn't quit on me the resolve that bound our

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Savior the love that bound him to the mission that God had given him is

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Incomprehensible to us it should mystify us and blow our minds

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None of us are like Christ None of us have undergone that kind of anguish and none of us have undergone that kind of resolve

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To go through it, even though we don't want to Why did

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Jesus continue? Why did it continue with God's plan? I?

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Believe that Jesus endured the greatest shaking of the soul so that you and I would never be shaken

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That's a facet of the gospel you may never have heard before he was shaken so you and I wouldn't have to be

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Isn't that amazing? He was gone through the ringer so you and I wouldn't have to he was shaken even right now in this moment shaken by his

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Contemplation of the weight of what was gonna happen to him on Calvary's Hill shaken in his own body

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Shaken through the crucifixion where his body was dehydrated and his back was up against the

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Splintered wood and as he was pushing himself with his ankles bloodied and broken and swollen He was shaking his body up to take a last breath to say father forgive them for what they've done

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And now it is finished. He was shaken through his death and burial. He was shaken through his resurrection and now

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He's sitting peacefully Righteously holy and triumphant in power on the cross so that you and I would never be shaken so that we can experience shalom

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So that we can experience tranquility so that we can experience peace and serenity with God Jesus went through the violence of The shaking of God so that you and I would not have to but this passage doesn't in there

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Because there's more involved in it as well For instance, look at the next section

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We know in the first part Jesus was shaken for us so that we would never have to be shaken Look at the next section verses 28

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B through 30 Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.

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That's God speaking and the crowd that was there and heard it said That it had thundered and others said an angel had spoken to him.

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Jesus said this voice was not for Not for my benefit but for yours here we have

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God speaking from heaven in the same ways that he had in the Old Testament when he spoke the universe's into existence and Adams began shaking into organization

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Here we have him speaking in the same way that you don't Mount Sinai where the people were gathered around the mountain

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Then all of a sudden like a volcano it blows up for the glory of God and then the people hit the deck and they're fearful because God speaking rumbles the earth and And it's only because We're so spiritually dull

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That we don't recognize what it is We see that the Apostles probably at least later

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Jesus told them what happened and John wrote it down in his gospel Some of the people were saying it thundered

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They're admitting that the world was shaken because of the voice of the spoke because of the spoken voice of God Some of them said it must have been an angel

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They were the more spiritual ones out of the confused crowd The ones who were dead and dull and their sin said I must have been just it must have been really really bad thunder

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God here is shaking the heavens in a way that Confirms passages in the

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Old Testament and we will look at that in just a moment. I Think what God is doing though under all of it

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Why did God shake the heavens right after Jesus soul was shaken in this moment because God is confirming the purpose of why

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Jesus came Jesus did not come so that you and I could pray a sinner's prayer fell out a card or sing kumbaya around a campfire

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At a Christian camp so that we could be another number on the salvation totem pole Jesus sent his or God sent his one and only

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Son to bring salvation to all of us Who would eventually be shaken down by this world and brought to ruin?

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He came to rescue us out of that and heaven quaked in confirmation of Christ Heaven shook in Confirmation of that mission that he would bring salvation to some and that he would bring judgment to others

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That's why Jesus came in church. You probably haven't heard that Jesus came to save everybody No Jesus came to save his people and he came to bring judgment upon those who are not his

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We see this in Malachi chapter 4 and one of the clearest passages in the Bible the dual purpose of why

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Jesus came Malachi 4 says for behold the day is coming burning like a furnace furnace and all of the arrogant and the evildoers will be like chaff and The day that is coming will set them ablaze says the

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Lord of hosts So that it will leave them neither root or branch but For those who fear my name the

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Son of Righteousness Will rise with healing in its wings and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall

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You will tread down the wicked For they will be ashes under the feet of your soul on the day, which

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I am preparing says the Lord of hosts For some

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Jesus came to give them joy Like baby calves leaping in a field For some he came to bring them unto destruction

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So that they would be tread under feet by those who were his The shaking came when

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Jesus came The reckoning came when Jesus came Salvation for his judgment for those who are not

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Look at how this passage ends Jesus says now is the time for judgment on this world.

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Have you ever read that and thought about that Jesus came to bring judgment? We read passages for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten

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Son that who should ever believe in him shall not perish But have eternal life. Yes But for those who are not his he came to bring judgment

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Judgment upon the world it says now is the time for judgment on this world now

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The Prince of the world will be driven out which we look at in a moment And I when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself

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He said this to show the kind of death that he was going to die first two things.

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We've looked at Jesus was shaken in his soul heaven shook in confirmation of the mission of Christ now

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Jesus tells us that he's gonna bring the covenantal shaking to this earth and we're gonna see it play out in three specific ways the first is

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That he's gonna bring the shaking covenantal fury to the world Joel chapter sorry

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Haggai chapter 2 tells us this For thus says the

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Lord of hosts once more in a little while. I am going to shake the heavens and the earth The sea also in the dry land.

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I will shake all the nations That they will come with the wealth of all the nations and I will fill this house with glory

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Says the Lord of hosts at the coming of Christ the prophecy that Malachi is given in Haggai is given in chapter 2 when

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Jesus comes the shaking comes The shaking of the world the pagan world so that all those things that are left are going to come to Christ like the little

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Kid like I was shaking the little basket trying to get the little gemstones Jesus is shaking this world so that whatever is left will come to him.

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That's why he came It's not a spirit. It's not a physical shaking. It's a spiritual shaking, but it's a shaking nonetheless.

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Look at Joel chapter 2 verse 10 Before them this is this passage is about when

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Jesus comes Before them the earthquakes the heavens tremble the

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Sun the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness It is easy for us.

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And if you want to join the end times discussion later, I can explain to you more about this passage It's easy for us to listen to all the end times hucksters out there today who say that no

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This is an end times passage the Sun the moon and the stars have gone dark. This has not happened yet This is going to happen when

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Jesus returns a second time. No The passage won't allow us to even see that because look at what it says just a few verses later

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It will come about after this after what the heavens tremble the Sun the moon and the stars grew dark the stars lost their brightness

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It'll come about after this that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind and your sons and your daughters will prophesy

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Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions and even on the male and female servants

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I will pour out my spirit on those days Peter says this verse has already happened at Pentecost When the

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Spirit of God was poured out on the church So the question we have to ask ourself is why is it talking about the world?

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Shaking in the way that it is. Why is it talking about the Sun the moon and the stars going dark? We don't believe that's happened yet. Have we well,

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I think what we need to understand is That the Old Testament uses a lot of very interesting and powerful language to describe the downfall of nations

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Time will not allow for us to share all of them But I do want to share a few of them just so that you will understand what is happening when nations fall in the

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Old Testament There's language in there of the heavens and the earth shaking. There's language of the

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Sun and the moon and the stars going dark There's language of the moon turning to blood. These things are not physical astronomical perturbations

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These things are spiritual covenantal judgment upon the nations who turn their back on God for instance

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Babylon Babylon's a real nation Babylon is a nation that God brought judgment upon in Isaiah chapter 13.

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This is what God says about the downfall of Babylon For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light

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The Sun will be dark when it rises. The moon will not shed its light thus, I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity and I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless

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I will make mortar mortal men scarcer than pure gold and mankind the gold of Ophir Therefore I will make the heavens

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Tremble and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the Lord of hosts in the day of his burning anger

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Babylon has already been judged They were judged Hundreds of years before Christ came the

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Sun did not physically fall out of the sky The the stars did not physically fall from the heavens and the heavens did not

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Physically shake themselves out of the cosmos if it had then there would be no earth

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These are not physical literal things These are covenantal and spiritual things where God is saying this nation is under my wrath why in the beginning in Genesis chapter 1

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God installed the Sun the moon and the stars to rule over the heavens and installed human beings to rule over the earth

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When human beings turn their back on God and they don't rule over the earth in the way that they're supposed to the heavens even respond by falling

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Falling where falling down and worship to God falling down in in Sadness, these are metaphorical examples of nations coming under the wrath of God We look at the fall of another nation named

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Tyre in the book of Isaiah 24 this downfall has already happened as well For the windows above are opened and the foundations of the earth shake the earth is broken asunder and The earth is split through Now just so we're clear.

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I don't think that the world has been split in half around 500 BC and Maybe it got glued back together.

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That didn't happen physically. This is covenantal language The earth is shaken violently the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and totters like a shack

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For its transgression is heavy upon it and it will fall never to rise again So it will happen in that day that the

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Lord will punish the host of heaven on high and the kings of the earth on the earth and They will be gathered together like prisoners in a dungeon

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And will be confined in prison and after many days they will be punished and the moon will be

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Abashed and the Sun ashamed for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and his glory will be before his elders this is a metaphorical covenantal prophecy of the coming of Christ who will come to Zion to Establish the kingdom of God and the nations will tremble because of it

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Beginning even with Old Testament nations like Tyre and Babylon this kind of judgment

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Jesus says has now come to the world now is the time for the world to be judged That judgment in the

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Old Testament is earth -shaking heaven -shaking Covenantal fury, but what's even more surprising about the

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Old Testament message is That it doesn't begin with the nations in general the surprising twist as we turn from the

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Old Testament to the New Testament is God's fury is going to be concentrated on one particular nation first and It's a nation.

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You would have never expected It's not Babylon It's not Egypt. It's not

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Tyre and Sidon It's Judah the people of God the people who turned away from their covenant creator

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The people who looked right into the face of Pilate and said we have no king but Caesar The people who said let his blood be on us in our generation the people who said

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Crucify him Crucify him In Matthew 23,

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I think verse 45. It's near the end of that chapter God promises that all of his wrath will be poured out on that generation for their crimes

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What was their crime? They killed God's Son All these promises in the

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Old Testament are gonna come true in them. Let me show you a couple examples We've already looked at Joel chapter 2. That's probably the most popular and most famous one.

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Look at Joel chapter 3 The Sun and the moon grow dark The stars lose their brightness the

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Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem and The heavens and the earth tremble

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But the Lord is the refuge for his people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel Then you will know that I am the

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Lord your God dwelling in Zion my holy mountain So Jerusalem will be holy and strangers will pass through it no more

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In the context of Joel chapter 3. It's talking about the coming of the Messiah The coming of Messiah to Judah, isn't it fascinating?

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It says that God's voice Will rumble through Jerusalem John chapter 12

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It says that God spoke and rumbled the city of Jerusalem seems to me like a fulfilled prophecy

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Seems to mean like this is exactly what Jesus was saying when he said the judgment has come judgment against who?

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says the Sun the moon and the stars are gonna Go dark just like we saw in the Old Testament passages because Judah is getting ready to be under the hand of God's judgment

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Look at Amos 5 18 through 24 Alas you who are longing for the day of the

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Lord the day of the Lord means when Christ comes in judgment for what purpose will the day of the

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Lord be to you it will be darkness and not light as When a man flees from a lion and then a bear meets him where he goes home and he leans his hand against the wall

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And a snake bites him Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light even gloom with no brightness in it

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God says that I hate and I reject your festivals nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies Even though you offer up to me burnt offerings and grain offerings

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I will not accept them and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings

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Take away from me the noise of your songs I will not even listen to the sound of your harps, but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever -flowing stream

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What God is promising to religious Judah is that all their religion was dead and it was empty and it was going to undergo

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God's wrath and this passage should terrify any single one of us in here who are pretending if You are not in Christ and you're coming and you're singing songs and you're coming and you're giving offerings and you're coming and you're pretending

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You should be terrified Because God sees through the ruse and He knows where your heart is and he will not let you slide because you think that you're good

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Amos 8 7 through 8 The Lord is sworn by the pride of Jacob. Indeed. I will never forget all of her deeds.

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Those are that's a bad thing for them Because of this will not the land quake and everyone who dwells in it mourn indeed

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All of it will rise up like the Nile will be tossed aside like the Nile of Egypt Isaiah 29 1 through 6.

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Whoa. Oh Ariel. That's Hebrew for a lion of God, which is a metaphorical title for the city of Jerusalem Ariel the city of David where David once camped add year to year observe your feast on your schedule and I will bring distress to you

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She will be a city of lamenting and mourning and she will be like an Ariel to me

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I will camp against you encircling you and I will set siege works against you and I will raise up battle towers against you

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Then you will be brought low from the earth You will speak and from the dust where you lie prostrate your words will come your voice will also be like that of a spirit

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From the ground and your speech will whisper from the dust But the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff

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Which the wind blows away and it will happen instantly suddenly from the Lord of hosts

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You will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise with a whirlwind in the tempest of the flame of the consuming

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Fire judgment is coming on Judah Because of their crimes against God Because of crucifying his one and only son and this happened with extraordinary accuracy

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Isaiah was written 700 years before Jesus came And it says that there will be siege works brought against them

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Battle towers will be raised up against them. This happened when Rome attacked the city of Jerusalem in AD 68 and they built siege walls and they brought towers and They starved the city out until everyone had perished or been taken into slavery

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God's judgment came upon that city Just like Jesus says now judgment has come.

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Let me read one more Zephaniah 1 for I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem verse 12

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It will come about at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps And I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit.

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This ought to terrify us as well Who say in their hearts that the Lord will not do good or evil?

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Moreover their wealth will become plunder and their houses will come desolate yet They will build houses but will not inhabit them and they will plant vineyards but not drink their wine

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Near is the great day of the Lord near and coming very quickly. Listen the day of the

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Lord in it the warrior cries out bitterly a day of wrath is that day a day of trouble and distress a day of destruction and desolation a day of darkness and gloom a day of clouds and thick darkness a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified city and against the high -cornered towers

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I Will bring distress on men so that they will walk like the blind

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Because they have sinned against the Lord and their blood will be poured out like the dust and their flesh like dung neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the

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Lord's wrath and All of the earth will be devoured in the fire of his jealousy For he will make a complete and indeed a terrifying one of all the inhabitants of the earth that word for earth there means land

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We're talking about Judah God is gonna bring salvation to his people

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But God is also gonna bring dark Unescapable judgment on those who are not his especially those who pretend to be his

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Especially those who have a veneer of religion Who say that they love

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Jesus, but yet in their hearts, they're stagnant and dead just like the people of Judah That shaking began 2 ,000 years ago, and if you're not in Christ you will be shaken

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And you will be discovered and there will be nothing left for you

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Jesus also promises another kind of shaking It's the power that's underneath all of this

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It's the power that fueled Babylon. It's the power that fueled Assyria It's the demonic power underneath the

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Pharaohs of Egypt and the kings of Rome Jesus also promises in this passage that he will bring a shaking sort of judgment to Satan himself

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John 12 31 says now is the time for judgment on this world Now the prince of this world will be driven out

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Who's the prince of this world? It's not Caesar It's not

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King Herod It's not any politician alive today It's a

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Prince and the power of the air the God of this world the dragon the enemy Lucifer Satan The Old Testament also tells us that he will be shaken in The same ways that nations will be shaken.

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So Jesus is going to bring a comprehensive judgment His judgment is not just going to be on people. It's going to be on spiritual principalities that fuel

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Demonic hatred of God. It says in Isaiah 14 13 through 17 This is a passage where Satan is going to be judged covenantally in the

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Old Testament it says and it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and Turmoil and harsh service and wish you have been enslaved that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon Satan here is being as being compared to the king of Babylon.

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He's the power that fueled that King and Say how the oppressor has ceased and how fury has ceased

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The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked the scepter of rulers which used to strike the people in fury with unceasing strokes

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Which subdued the nation's in anger with unrestrained persecution the whole earth is at rest and is quiet They break forth into shouts of joy

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Even the cypress trees rejoice over you and the cedars of Lebanon saying since you were laid low

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No tree cutter comes up against us She'll from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come

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It arouses for you the spirits of the dead all the leaders of the earth It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones and they will all respond and say even you have been made as weak as we

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You have become like us Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheil Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you and worms are your covering?

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How you have fallen from heaven old star of the morning son of dawn You have been cut down to the earth

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You who have weakened the nation's you said in your heart. I will ascend into heaven

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I will raise my throne above the stars of God and I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the recesses of The north and I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and I will make myself like the most high

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Nevertheless you will be thrust down to shield to the recesses of the pit Those who see you will gaze at you and they will ponder over you saying is this the man who made the earth tremble and who?

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shook the kingdoms Who made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities who did not allow his prisoners to go home

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Do you see the same judgment happening to Satan that happens to the nation's? The nation's the stars fall out of the sky

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Satan like a star falls from the sky The nation shook Satan's the one who's been shaking the nation's

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God is bringing his righteous fury Against the nation's and against Satan his

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Campaign as it were his coming as it were is to bring judgment How often do you hear sermons about Jesus came to bring?

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judgment and Yet, it's all over the place He came to bring judgment

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He came to bind that liar Satan So that he could plunder his kingdom and he came to put all of those who are in Satan to ruin in This passage we see that Jesus shook

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Because of what he was getting ready to face the heavens shook in order to confirm who

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Christ is We see that the nation's are going to shake that Judah was going to shake that Satan himself will be shaken

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Why? So that you and I never would be That's the hope of the gospel

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Because Jesus intends to bring everything that is broken in this world

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Back to restored back to restoration. He has chosen for himself a people and That people who are called by his name

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Will be hidden in him And although the world will shake to rubble and although Satan himself will be shaken all the way to the pits of hell

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If you are in Christ You cannot be shaken

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You cannot it says in verse 32 when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself

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This is not universalism. This doesn't mean every single person has ever lived It means all kinds of people from every tribe and every tongue and every nation will be drawn to Jesus Out of the midst of the nations.

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Jesus is going to bring judgment to the pagan nations of the world but from that he's going to draw unto himself a people and Two thousand years later we are representatives of that people drawn out from the nations.

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Can you imagine? Jesus is speaking to Jewish people here, and I don't know if a single person here forgive me if I'm wrong who's

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Jewish We've been drawn out From the nations because of the resurrection and the ascension of Christ He was shaken on the cross for us so that we would never be shaken so that we can stand here as the people of God unbreakable unshakable

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Unmovable because we're hidden in him This judgment, although vicious and violent for the world is good news for us

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Jesus brought judgment If you're in him, he takes your judgment

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If you're not you take your judgment that's How I want us to end if you're not a

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Christian today you may think that you're unshakable You may think you're unbreakable.

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You may think that you know, you're young and you don't have any problems right now There will come a day

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Where life will shake you Where God will shake you and there will come a day at the end of your life where you will be shaken to see what's in you

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If you are not in Christ, you will come up empty and you will slip through The sieve

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Into eternal fury it's been promised. It's been predicted and it's been shown The Bible says in fear and trembling to see if you are really what you say you are

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The Bible says to to wrestle with these things The Bible doesn't say to have a haphazard

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Sort of view where you come to church on Sunday and you sing a couple songs and you go and you forget entirely about Jesus For the week it is something that is so life -changing that it changes everything about you

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Don't take your faith as something flippant Don't take your faith as something that doesn't matter

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You will be shaken to see if you are who you say that you are and I pray to God that you are

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For all of us in this room who are Christians, there's two things. I want to remind us of before we conclude the first thing is that we are gonna be shaken to The Difference between us in the world is that we've been deposited the

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Holy Spirit inside of us so that when we are shaken The hell falls out of us Jesus shakes the hell out of us.

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He shakes the sin out of us. He shakes the curse out of us He shakes our brokenness out of us.

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So that what so that we're conformed into the image of Christ So that we will have joy and confidence in our

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Savior until we meet him in his unshakable kingdom For everyone who's in Christ today

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I want you to know that you're gonna be shaken Life's gonna shake you God's gonna shake you the Holy Spirit's gonna put you in situations that break you or at least you're gonna think

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That way and you're gonna cry out to God and you're gonna have to sacrifice and you're gonna have to say Lord Help me with my patience.

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Lord. Help me with this Lord. Help me with that. He's doing it on purpose because he loves you Because he wants to shake the weakness out of you

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He wants to shake your sin out of you your cowardice out of you your fearfulness out of you So that you will look like Christ Have joy in that Say with the psalmist in Psalm 16 8

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I have set the Lord continually before me. He is at my right hand I will not be shaken Ultimately you won't

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Say with the psalmist in Psalm 55 cast your burden upon the Lord.

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He will sustain you He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. I means ultimately Say with John Wesley in his great hymn

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He wrote this after an earthquake, but it's it it's so beautiful to me here this morning

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Let earth's innermost center quake and shattered nature mourn Let the unwieldy mountain shake and fall by storms uptorn

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Fall with all of their trembling load far into the ocean hurled low. We stand secure in God amidst a ruined world and Remember what the author of Hebrews says as we conclude

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It says in his voice shook the earth and He is promising yet. Once more.

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I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens This expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken.

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That's your sin That's your brokenness. That's your that's all of your flesh is gonna be shaken off of you

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So that those things which cannot be shaken will remain Therefore since we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken

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Let us show gratitude May we offer to God and acceptable servants with reverence and awe dear brothers and sisters if you're in Christ Have gratitude for what

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Christ has done You didn't do it You couldn't have done it

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But because of what he's done you can be safe and secure forever have gratitude in that and Let's worship him with reverence and offer what he's done.

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Let's pray Lord we live in a world that is shaking itself all the time where there's earthquakes and tremors and volcanoes and tsunamis and Even we read in the scriptures where there's covenantal judgments that come upon Those who have turned against you and Lord there are plenty of reasons why we should be afraid

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There are plenty of reasons physically why we should be afraid since this world is not a Very safe place to live because of the fall there's plenty of reasons we should be spiritually afraid because Because of our sin we should be shaken like the nations

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We should be brought down to dust and ash and ruin like the nations like Judah Like Satan himself

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Our portion if it were not for you should be the lake of fire that burns forever and ever and yet Lord by some

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Unimaginable and astounding instance of grace You have looked on us who did not deserve your favor and you've given us grace and mercy and love

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Lord help us today to be tender -hearted Help us to feel the weight of what we deserve in our sin and you're not yet Lord also

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Help us also to feel the gratitude that Hebrews is talking about that. We have been made to be a part of your kingdom

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Because of grace and grace alone Lord. Give us that gratitude Make us the most thankful gracious Joyful people that this world has ever seen

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Never taking credit for what you've done, but only standing boldly and in your promises