June 4, 2023 - Sunday Service

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood iconAscension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Good morning, everyone. It looks like we're having a nice family reunion, which is great.
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Let's now Turn our hearts to worship. Let's prepare our hearts now for just a moment
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Let's check on this technical issue.
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Some sound is running through our system or it is
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Yeah, I don't have anything on my end Well grace and peace to you in the name of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the corporate worship of God We have entered into that place, which is a stairway to heaven
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Let us rejoice in this. Please stand. Oh Lord you who laid the foundations of the earth so that it should not be moved forever
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You covered it with the deep as with a garment the waters stood
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Above the mountains at your rebuke. They fled at the voice of your thunder. They hastened away
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They went up over the mountains. They went down into the valleys To the place which you founded for them
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You have set a boundary that they may not pass That they may not return to cover the earth
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May the glory of the Lord endure forever May the
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Lord rejoice in his works He looks on the earth and it trembles
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He touches the hills and they smoke. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live
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I will sing praise to my God while I have my being May my meditation be sweet to him.
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I will be glad in the Lord May sinners be consumed from the earth and the wicked be no more
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Bless the Lord. Oh my soul praise the Lord come now.
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Let us worship him Please pray with me Father Son and Holy Spirit We have come
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To your holy hill of Zion We raise our hands and open our mouths that you might fill us
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That we might receive the blessing of communion with you that we might sing your praises that we might come to you in confession and forgiveness and assurance
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And that you might serve us at the table. Oh Lord be glorified in us
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May your name be hallowed here. We ask these things in Jesus name
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Amen Please kneel for the corporate confession of sin and let us now confess our sins in unison
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Jesus forgive my sins Forgive the sins that I remember in the sins.
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I have forgotten Forgive me my many failures Temptation and those times when
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I have been stubborn in the face of correction Forgive the times I have been proud of my own achievements and those when
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I have failed to boast in your works Forgive the harsh judgments.
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I have made of others in the leniency. I have shown myself Forgive me the pain
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I have caused others the indulgence. I have shown myself
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Jesus have mercy on me and make me whole Amen, please stand
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What a fitting Corporate confession of sin that is us
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We have a Savior who is Christ the Lord Who is a God like you?
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Oh Lord pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage
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He does not retain his anger forever Because he delights in mercy
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He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities
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He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea Oh, let us exalt and rejoice in the forgiveness that we have in Christ Jesus.
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Amen Let's respond to seeing number 295 crown him with many crowns 295
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Whose chapter for the law having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with these same
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Sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make those who approach perfect For then would they not have ceased to be offered for the worshipers once purified would have no more consciousness of sins
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But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins
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Therefore when he came to the world, he said Sacrifice and offering you did desire did not desire but a body you have prepared for me in Burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.
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You had no pleasure Then I said behold I have come in the volume of the book.
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It is written of me to do your will Oh God previously saying Sacrifice and offering burnt offerings and offerings for sin
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You did not desire nor had pleasure in them which are offered according to the law Then he said behold
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I have come to do your will Oh God He takes away the first that he has may establish the second by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all and Every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins
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But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever Sat down at the right hand of God From that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool for by one offering he has perfected forever
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Those who are being sanctified But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us for after he had said before This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the
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Lord I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds I will write them then he adds their sins and their lawless deeds.
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I will remember no more now There is no there is remission of these there is no longer an offering for sin therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiness by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he
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Consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith
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Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promises faithful Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works
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Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another
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It's so much more as you see the day approaching For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth
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There no longer remains a sacrifice for sin But a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries
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Anyone who has rejected Moses's law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses
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How much worse punishment do you suppose? Will he be thought worthy who has trampled the
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Son of God underfoot? Counted the blood of the covenant by which he has sanctified a common thing and insulted the spirit of grace
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For we know him who said vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord and again, the
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Lord will judge his people It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God But recall the former days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great struggle with sufferings
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Partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations and partly while you became
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Companions of those who were so treated For you had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods
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Knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven Therefore do not cast away your confidence
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Which has great reward for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God You may receive the promise
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For a little while and he who is coming will come and will not tarry Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back my soul has no pleasure in him
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But we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul this is the word of the
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Lord and that chapter is
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Something isn't it, man? Thank you, Lord. Jesus Let us now confess our faith in the singing of the
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Apostles Creed Ask you to take up the hymnal again.
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I want to pause here for just a moment this hymn in this tune are exceedingly familiar to us and That provides a blessing for us that we don't have to concentrate on following along And it's also an opportunity for us to really engage with the subject matter
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Which is the holiness of our great God. So let us properly Ascribe holiness to our
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God in the singing of 100. Holy Holy holy, let's now make preparations for the prayers of the people.
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Please kneel Let's pray together now with one voice
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Almighty and everlasting God in whom we live and move and have our being
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We your beloved children Offer to you our humble praises for having preserved us from the beginning of our lives to this day
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Especially do we praise you for having delivered us? And Uncertainties of this past week and magnify your glorious name
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Humbly beseeching you to accept this our morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
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For his sake who lay down in the grave and rose again for us your son our
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Savior Jesus Christ Fulfill now. Oh Lord our desires and petitions as may be best for us
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Granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth to come life everlasting
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Amen, I ask your prayers for God's people throughout the world for our
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Denomination for this church and for all ministers and missionaries pray for the church
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I ask your prayers for the poor the sick the bereaved the burdened and for the widows orphans and prisoners
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Pray for those in any need or trouble I ask your prayers for those who do not know
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Christ and for those who seek a deeper knowledge of him Pray that they may find and be found by him
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I ask your prayers for our children and future generations, which will be born to them
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Pray that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth through them Pray that we may have grace to glorify
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Christ in our own day Amen Please stand and take up the psalm of the month
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Psalm 94 if you're here for prayer meeting on Thursday you had the chance to sing this DJ would you give a couple of words of Encouragements to us as we venture out into Psalm 94.
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Thank you, brother Alyssa I'm gonna ask you to play through one time and then a pause helpful pause to start.
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Thank you Please turn in your
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Bibles if you would to Zechariah in chapter 12 the next to last book the
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Old Testament Zechariah in chapter 12.
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I want to remind you that this is No ordinary literature.
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This is God's holy and infallible Word We learned again last week that the
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Holy Spirit is the author of it and So when we study the scripture, we're hearing the very
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Word of God Zechariah 12 The burden of the word of the
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Lord against Israel Thus says the Lord who stretches out the heavens
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Lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him
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Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah in Jerusalem and It shall happen in that day that I will make
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Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples All who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces
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Though all nations of the earth are gathered against it in That day says the
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Lord. I will strike every horse with confusion and its riders with madness.
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I Will open my eyes on the house of Judah and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness
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And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart the inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength and the
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Lord of hosts their God in that day, I'll make the governors of Judah like a fire pan in the woodpile and like a fiery torch in the sheaves
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They shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left
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But Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place Jerusalem The Lord will save the tents of Judah first So that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah And that day the
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Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem the one who was feeble among them in that day shall be like David and The house of David shall be like God Like the angel of the
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Lord before them It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come
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Against Jerusalem and I will pour on the house of David on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication
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Then they will look upon me whom they pierced Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn and That day there shall be a great morning in Jerusalem Like the morning at Hadad Ramon in the plain of Megiddo and the land shall mourn every family by itself
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The family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves The family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves the family of Shammai by itself and their wives by themselves all the families that remain every family by itself and their wives by themselves
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And the Lord the power of his spirit illumine Our understanding of his word, please pray with me
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Who could we ever call upon in heaven, but you Oh God the enemies of your people gather and they assemble around but you
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Squash them you bring their wicked designs to nothing We thank you.
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Oh Lord that we have a a true Israel And that your people are a true
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Jerusalem I pray that Christ would be exalted today and they even hear that his gospel would shine forth
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They would see more and more of his glory We ask these things in Jesus name
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Amen Please be seated as you know, and we've been studying
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Zechariah is relatively obscure and its proclamation in the church today and The section that we are going to focus on verses 1 through 9 would be merely introductory material in most cases for the latter half of the chapter but we have the privilege and blessing to be able to study these things and to Wait until next time to hear more of those glorious truths and and to not pass over some very significant concepts that exist in the first half of The chapter it's been a few weeks since we've been in Zechariah And I think one of the things that would cause you to pause here if you remember we had at the end of chapter 11 the absolute destruction of Jerusalem and then a completely different oracle a completely
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Different thrust a shift that talks about really the blessing of Jerusalem So, how do we reconcile these notions that seem to be really very much opposed to each other.
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Well if we were Liberals we would say well, these are probably two different authors and two different prophecies, but we are no liberals here
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This is a another oracle a second oracle 9 through 11 was one and now 12 through 14 is another and It's been
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Christological it's been messianic, but that's been accelerated a bit now in chapter 12 through 14 the title of the message today is protection and provision the people have come back from exile and Remnant a percentage of them who had been in Babylon have been here and engaged in the work of rebuilding the temple
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They're starting to rebuild their lives in Judah and Jerusalem and they have heard great promises of an immediate blessing of the prospering of the work
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But also of a future blessing with the advent and arrival of the
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Messiah The king of glory himself the Lord Jesus Christ there have been many distinctly
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Christological sections that we've enjoyed here and in chapter 12 is no different the second half next time in Zechariah we will get a very big dose of Christ in Zechariah, but today
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Something else is happening The Lord is speaking about Preserving and protecting a remnant of his people
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But the question has to be asked is what is Jerusalem? If Jerusalem is to be destroyed because of her rejection of the
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Savior the Lord Jesus Christ How can it be revived? Is Jerusalem confined to that that area in the mountain range near Mount Zion and is that the place where?
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Jerusalem dwells Or is there another Jerusalem? Is there another place that?
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Becomes the dwelling place of God in the spirit. Is there a new Jerusalem a place where his people reside
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Well, I would argue that there is and that place is the church and In spite of all of the different interpretations almost everyone
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I'm so excited to report to you almost every scholar from every persuasion says yes
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Chapter 12 it is about the church of Jesus Christ There's an interpretive key that we have to unlock to understand its significance here
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Let's go to Galatians in chapter 4. This is going to help us understand How this
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Jerusalem? refers not just to the geographic Location but to something else
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Galatians in chapter 4. I'm again reading in verse 21
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Tell me you who desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law?
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For it is written that Abraham had two sons
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The one by a bondwoman the other by a free woman
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This is referring to the situation with Hagar and Sarah it says in verse 23 but he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh and He of the free woman through promise
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Which things are symbolic So there is a biological way to get children and There's a way to get them through promise the pagans have lots of children, too
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But they don't have them the way we do in faith and trust and covenant with God and the irony here is that Israel the people of God who have received the very oracles of God Who would see themselves as in the line of Isaac and Abraham are?
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pointed out to be in the line of Hagar and Abraham this fits very nicely with our section here because Israel and its apostasy and rejection of the coming
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Messiah finds itself outside of the covenant promises Because they've gone the way of the bondwoman
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The Pharisees in the days of Jesus they believe themselves to be the Caretakers of the law and the great scholars of the law they were on the side of Hagar It's a powerful stinging indictment of unbelief continue
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Verse 40 24, I'm sorry. These things are symbolic for these are the two covenants
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The one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar For this
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Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is
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And what is the description of physical national
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Jerusalem according to Paul and how does it line up with Zechariah 12?
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This Jerusalem is in bondage with her children The Judaizers have come into the church at Galatia, and they're trying to say that Salvation comes through things like circumcision
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Keeping the ceremonial law if you do these things you have salvation the same idea is present in the
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Jerusalem of Zechariah's time in the intervening period between the 500 years between these two divine books
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There's another Jerusalem Did you know that you were a citizen of Jerusalem?
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We after all we come to Mount Zion every Sunday We have a heavenly
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Citizenship you and I in Christ are citizens of the heavenly
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Jerusalem There's a Jerusalem that now is that is under bondage the
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Dome of the Rock sits on the Temple Mount still under bondage Because of apostasy because of a rejection of our
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Lord Jesus Christ but there's another Jerusalem a one that we
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Participated a Jerusalem we gather with the people of God in Jerusalem to worship our
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God And you know what our God meets us here Because we're his people the church is the new
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Jerusalem a couple more things and we'll go back
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Hagar is Mount Sinai and Arabia And it corresponds to Jerusalem which now is
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And is in bondage with her children But the
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Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all I want you to repeat that again children
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I want you to pay close attention to this But the Jerusalem above is free.
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There's a a Jerusalem in bondage a Jerusalem subject to the wrath of God a
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Jerusalem that is going to be every stones going to be turned over and There's a
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Jerusalem that is free, which is the mother of us all Can that mean anything but the church?
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What else could it possibly mean the Jerusalem?
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from above And it says rejoice so barren you who do not bear break forth and shout you who are not in labor
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For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband But now we brethren as Isaac was our children of promise
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But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted who was born according to the
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Spirit Even so it is now The Jewish people are largely hostile to their
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Messiah into us Says therefore what does the scripture say cast out the bondwoman and her son?
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For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman
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So then brethren we are not children of the bondwoman But of the free
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Galatians for The analogy of faith the scripture interpreting the scripture.
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It's essential for us to understand Zechariah 12 in light of all the revelation there is about Christ.
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So let's turn back there to Zechariah 12 For those of you who have need of an outline
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I have two points for you first Jerusalem defended would be the first point.
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I'd like to offer and it's gonna be the bulk of what we talked about today Jerusalem defended and second it's going to be
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Jerusalem prospered I don't know if you know this but it seems that every other week we sing a song
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That talks about either Jacob or Jerusalem Now my question to you can we as a
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Christian people claim the promises given to Jacob and Jerusalem or not Are those confined only to the
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Old Covenant people of God? you can sing with great zeal and gusto the promises that are sent to Jacob and to Israel and to Jerusalem Because you are the people of God that songbook the
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Psalms all of those Illustrations all those descriptions are for us for all people for all the ages
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All those promises are found in Christ and have their yes and amen and now we have
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The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel this is the second big prophecy after the night visions the first occurred in chapters 9 through 11 the second 12 through 14
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This is the Lord speaking and to give you a a taste of what's coming
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We're not going to talk about it today look again at verse 10 and this will should set your heart on fire
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God is the voice speaking in Zechariah 12 Zechariah is speaking the words of God after him and he says
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I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication
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Sounds like Pentecost to me Then they will look upon me whom they pierced
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How does God get pierced? the incarnation of the
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Lord Jesus Christ God is speaking to the covenant people in Zechariah 12, and he says in that Prophecy that I'm going to be pierced
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And I'm going to pour out my Holy Spirit And it's gonna happen in Jerusalem and it's gonna spread to Judea to the ends of the earth.
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You remember that from last week? Astounding 500 years
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Before the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ well
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Let's consider it really quickly This is what the Lord says and listen to his credentials
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The Lord this is his word. This is the burden. This is the message that must be delivered, but he but he traces his
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His credentials he gives his CV his resume. He says I am the one who stretches out the heavens
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I am the one who lays the foundation of the earth
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Those of you who know the Catechism, how does
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God execute it his decrees? God executed his decrees in the works of creation and providence
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Brethren as our brother. Dr. Lawson said in our Study this morning this entire world this cosmos
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It all is the possession of our God This is why we're those radical theonomic
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Reconstructionists that everybody warns people about This entire planet everything in it is the possession of our
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God. We can never be mistaken about this It's his world
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It's his stars that hang in the skies It's his fish that swim in the streams that it's his flowers.
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It's his cattle. It all belongs to him We all bow in subjection to him or at least we should what qualifications to speak and the agent of creation we're going to find out in our section is also the agent of Recreation if he's able to create something he's also able to Recreate he stretches out the heavens he lays the foundation of the earth and this part is a
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Depth a world to be explored and time doesn't permit it and forms the spirit of man within him
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And you remember the picture of Adam being Being formed of the dust of the ground and molded into that image that that form and then
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God breathes into his nostrils and animates him into a living sentient being a soul a spiritual
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Physical creature not just a physical creature a spiritual Soulful creature and God does this when he gives life
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The picture of our illustration in Galatians 4 even works here. There's there's biology and there's the union of Ovum and sperm and there's the all these things that happen in conception and everything
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But there's also this spiritual dynamic where life and eternity is implanted in a physical being
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This is all the Lord's doing and here's the message that he gives what qualifications he has to speak he says in verse 2
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I'm gonna make Jerusalem of cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem one author said just as God once exercised his might and strength to form the world
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And to give life to mankind at the beginning of history so he will work in the latter days to reform the world and To give life once again to his people
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The coming Last day's work of the Messiah will be a restorative work
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It's going to be the ushering in of a new creation I'm going to make
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Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness the enemies of God's people are going to come and they're going to Attempt to revel and drink the blood of the of the
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Jerusalem citizens as if they were drinking wine But they're not going to get drunk.
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They're not going to revel. They're going to find That they have God as their defender and that sweet cup of wine they're going to be finding is bitter gall and their desire to to attack the people of God in every age is going to turn on itself and They're going to poison themselves and their desire to to destroy
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God's people They're gonna find that that desire and that attitude actually turns out to their own destruction
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Look at verse 3 it says and it shall happen in that day That I will make
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Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples There's some interesting
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Hebrew language here and that the wound that happens is even connected to the idea of Attempting to grab a great stone in my picture of this we have the wicked grabbing a stone heaping trying to stone
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Jerusalem and drop it on their head to kill them and The enemies of God grabbing the stone and having the stone fall on themselves
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To be crushed under its weight Brethren You have no
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Idea how secure you are in Christ the enemies encircle us like jackals and wolves
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We're just sheep the predators swirl around us And it looks bad
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And they hate us because we are the only earthly impediment for the full vent of their evil designs
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That's why they hate the church so much we are the impediment for them to go on in their wickedness after all the
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God the atheists don't believe in is the Christian God the Trinitarian God.
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That's the God they don't believe in They don't want to believe in and the enemies of God are going to be vanquished
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They're going to try to attack his people and he's going to defend them Jerusalem itself is going to be so anchored like that city is that it's an impenetrable
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Stone forest almost and that picture applies very well to our security in Christ The people want to attack us they want to come in and to to ravish us
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But they're not going to be able to all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces
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Though all nations of the earth are gathered Against it. I heard a statistic
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Recently, I don't know how accurate is from the early 2000s that roughly a hundred and sixty three thousand
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Christians are martyred every year for Jesus Christ That's a huge number
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There are things that happen in sub -saharan Africa and Places in Asia that we have no idea what's going on There's going to be a vindication of all these things
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It says in verse 4 in that day says the Lord I will strike every horse with confusion and Its riders will be struck with madness
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I will open my eyes over the house of Judah and I will strike every horse of the people's with blindness
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This is utter confusion The enemies of God it looks like they're going to overtake them, but they can't
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The governors of Judah shall say in their heart the inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength
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And the Lord of hosts their God and that day I will make the governors of Judah like a fire pan
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In the woodpile after all didn't
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Christ say upon this rock I will build my church Isn't Christ the chief cornerstone the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense
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Though the people's gather against us in opposition to us They will ultimately be cut to pieces why they fail to kiss the
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Sun and his wrath is now kindled Against them they cannot withstand him
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So there's also an appeal a plea here for us isn't there? If I be outside of the security and comfort of Christ that I'm in a precarious position
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I urge you if you do not know Jesus Christ run and flee to the security of Christ Where there's salvation and life and hope?
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All of his enemies are going to be crushed and destroyed Don't be numbered with them
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The Lord is going to subdue all of the evil designs of his and our enemies
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Whatever your eschatology is at the end. They're all subdued They're all brought under his feet
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Stop this madness and turn to your king and repentance and faith and loyalty and obedience and allegiance
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Now there's a peculiar thing That happens here.
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I didn't introduce it because it's complicated but Judah is used in three different ways in our section and it's complicated and it can kind of make muddy the waters about all of this, but but Judah at the outset is
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Appears to be to me to be an enemy of Jerusalem, but there's a turn of their heart and I think this neatly and nicely goes and connects to the
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The salvation of the Jews even in the days the earliest days of the church The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength and the
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Lord of hosts their God it says Say the great apostasy the great opposition of the
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Jewish people the the great Judgment that has befallen them. We know from Romans 9 through 11 that God has not forgotten his promises to the descendants of Abraham So we can expect an ongoing
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Harvest of the Jewish people, but someday even a cataclysmic huge Revival of true religion among those people
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Our God remembers his promises Spurgeon said in relation to verse 6 something to the effect that The the people of God are so ignited by the
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Spirit think of last week That they are like a fire pan in a woodpile a fiery torch among the sheaves
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The the light and the heat of the people of God is so profound that it touches and affects everything around it
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That it devours all the surrounding peoples and this can be taken in two ways kind of like a in a military way a sign of destruction, but in a more gospel way
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They are the light of the world Proclaiming and shining forth the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ To a lost and dying world
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Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place Jerusalem the
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Lord will save the tents of Judah first this language is
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Generally thought to be tied to the poverty -stricken the marginalized and it seems to be those were the first people to come to Christ in Judea and In that early days of Christ's gospel going forth through the
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Apostles The rich men the dignitaries they were in alliance with Rome and their power
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But the the gospel was going out to tax collectors and sinners and people like you and me isn't that great?
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That's how God worked in those days the last thing
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I want us to consider because of time is Jerusalem's prosperity
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He's going to defend us. He's going to preserve us. He's going to protect us it says in verse 8 that in that day the
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Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem and The one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David We prayed for widows and orphans
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It's in effect the prophecy of Zechariah is saying the least in the kingdom of God Is going to be greater or as great as King David Sounds familiar doesn't it
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Jesus asked about the greatest the greatness of John the Baptist What a station what an estate you the people of God find yourself in on this day
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You are raised to the echelon of one of the greatest men who's ever lived in history you are likened to King David surely, we are a kingdom of priests and priests and princes aren't we and The house of David is going to be like God Does anybody have a clue about what that's talking about and like the angel of the
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Lord before them? Well, there's going to be a divine one
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Who has a natural birth in some ways, but he also has a spiritual birth
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He is Israel par excellence. He is better than Jacob.
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He's better than Abraham. He's better than Isaac he is the firstborn over all creation and And Jesus being the true
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Israel has taken a bride and she is the true Jerusalem the church
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Where does? Jesus plant his love and his devotion. He plants it in Jerusalem the
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Jerusalem from above The place where God dwells in the spirit
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It's the presence of The church
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Zechariah 12 8 anticipates the incarnation of the
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Lord Jesus Christ Says in verse 9 it shall be in that day
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That I will seek to destroy all the nations that come Against Jerusalem now
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If Zechariah 12 is just a future news report about Happenings in a restored
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Jerusalem, that'd be one thing But I believe it's much grander.
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I believe it's much greater it's not just an end -times prophecy, it's
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The last days have come with Jesus and you and I are living in those glorious days
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Where the kingdom of God is advancing The enemies are being subdued It looks perilous to us on the outside, do you think the transgenders are going to conquer the
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Church of Jesus Christ? The socialists the Marxists are they going to storm
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The church that's built on the rock of Jesus Christ. Are they going to throw over overthrow the
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Church of Jesus Christ? It's never going to happen Whatever comes whatever they throw at us.
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We will be vindicated They're going to try to destroy us and that I'm sure is going to be ramped up in the coming days
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Watch how the rock falls back on their heads And they're destroyed
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We have absolute assurance that our God has protected preserved
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And provided for us his people Jesus is the embodiment of what
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Israel is It turns out that we are the embodiment of what the
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New Jerusalem is Astounding a couple of words of application and then
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I will Conclude here first I Like you to take heart the wicked encircle us
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They encircle us they harass us because we are the great obstacle to their wicked designs
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Be assured that the Lord will preserve protect and provide for you his people second
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Do not be ignorant to the real spiritual battle That's going on and there is a war in the cosmos happening
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But take comfort You belong to Jesus the
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King of Glory Thirdly the
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Lord has promised us prosperity and success Doesn't mean that you're all gonna be rich or you're gonna be healed of every disease you have that would be far too small of a thing
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He's going to allow us to see the ascension of the kingdom of God let us now walk in the victory of Christ And finally
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Today in just a couple of moments Our brother Mark is going to come and he's going to help us keep the feast he has provided a table for us in The midst of our enemies and here we dwell today in absolute peace and security
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It's wonderful to know Christ, isn't it? Let's pray together the
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Lord we thank you for Your protection and provision We thank you for passages like Zechariah 12
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Thank you Lord for showing us glimmers of high heavenly wondrous things
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And oh Lord, I pray that we would recognize our elevated station
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It would be a cause of humility and thanksgiving and worship and adoration of you
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But also Lord a holy boldness and courage Not only to approach your throne of grace, but to put sin to death in our own lives
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To take ground from the enemy that belongs to you to to speak out against the evils of our age
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Oh Lord, I pray that you would give us the the full spectrum of benefit that is due the people of God We ask these things in Jesus name
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Amen Let us continue our worship to the presentation of our tithes and offerings
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Please stand and let us pray
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Our gracious God and Father. We thank you. Oh Lord for all the blessings that you have
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Showered upon us father indeed We have received blessings many spiritual blessings when you have blessed us in the heavenly places to which we now sit with Christ But father you've also given us many earthly blessings indeed our cup runs over We thank you father that as part of your worship service.
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We have the opportunity to Give a portion of those blessings back for the work of the church.
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We pray father that those who receive these These gifts would use them wisely
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The further the gospel and the community and the health and prosperity of the church
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We pray for this in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord Amen, as we have just heard of the great and glorious God to which we serve.
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Let us sing Together with great gusto the Gloria Patri Up your hearts.
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Let us give thanks to the Lord It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places
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Give thanks to you. Oh, holy Lord father almighty everlasting God Because you sent your beloved son to redeem us from sin and death
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To make us and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life That when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world
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We may without shame or fear Rejoice to behold his appearing
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Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we praise and magnify your glorious name evermore praising you and singing amen you may in God of all consolation
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Grant your gracious presence and the effectual working of your spirit in us
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And so to sanctify these elements both of bread and wine and to bless your own ordinance
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That we may receive by faith the body and blood of Jesus Christ Crucified for us and so to feed upon him that he may be one with us and we one with him
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That he may live in us and we in him and for him who loved us and given himself for us
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And we ask in his name Amen And the night in which our Lord was betrayed
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He took bread And when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying hey eat
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This is my body which is broken for you Likewise after suffering took the cup
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And when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink this all of you. This is the new covenant in my blood
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So as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes
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Therefore we proclaim the faith Let us pray together we do not presume
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Oh Trusting in our own righteousness Within your manifold and great mercies
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We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table
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But you are the same Lord who always shows mercy Grant us therefore gracious Lord So to eat the flesh of your dear son
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Jesus Christ and the drink of his blood That our sinful bodies may be cleaned by his body
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And our souls washed through his most precious blood And that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us
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Amen Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us Therefore let us keep the feasts
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The gifts of God for the people of God Thanks be to the Lord This song we now sing
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Of thee that blood
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Blooms Of your eternal hand
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Oh Lord grant us this other benefit That you will help having them imprinted on our hearts
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May we grow and increase daily In the faith whose back work In every good deed
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And now Father send us out To do the work you have given us to do To love and serve you
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As faithful witnesses Of Christ our Lord To him, to you, and to the
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Holy Spirit Be honor and glory Now and forever
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Please stand The Lord lift up his countenance upon you