Sermon for Lord's Day January 28, 2024 "Zechariahs First Sermon" (pt14)

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Sermon for Lord's Day January 28, 2024 "Zechariahs First Sermon" (pt14)

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In the book of Ezra, chapter 6, verse 14, the scripture says,
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And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggad the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo.
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And then over in Zechariah, chapter 1, we're going to read verses 1 through 6.
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This is the word of the living God. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out,
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Thus says the Lord of hosts, return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.
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But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. Your fathers, where are they?
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And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which
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I commanded my servants, the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, as the
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Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us.
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Our heavenly fathers, we come before your throne once again this morning.
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It is with a grateful heart. It is with joy that we open up the words of eternal life, dear
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God, that you have given us. And dear God, it is in great need that we come before you as we stand to proclaim, to teach and to preach your word.
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Lord, I pray that you would give clarity in my thought, that you would give liberty with my mouth, that I might speak forth the words of truth today from your word, dear
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God, and that those that are under the preaching and the teaching of the word of God today might be changed, dear
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God. For we know we can strike as the quote on the screen says, God, the word preached can strike the ear, but only you,
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God, can strike the heart of the minds of the individuals in this place, of those who will hear this message across the world, dear
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God. We pray that you would do your great and your mighty work, God, of regeneration in the hearts and in the minds of those who are dead in their trespasses and in their sins, that you would give them life, dear
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God, that you would give them liberty, dear God, that you would open the blinded eyes, dear
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God, that you would cause the ears that have been so long deaf to the truth of your word to hear, dear
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God, cause us today as we are here in this place gathered together to worship you in spirit and in truth as our focus, our sole aim and our sole goal today, dear
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Lord, is to lift up the blessed and the holy name of you, our
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Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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So with not being here for last week, being out with the snow, it seems like we haven't been here forever, but we are so glad to be here today.
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It is such a blessing and such a joy to be in God's house with God's people. We pray that your heart and your mind will be encouraged today by and through the word of the living
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God. Now, you may be wondering, but you may not be wondering, but just in case you are, you're wondering maybe why we are going to Zacharias, the book of Zacharias, when there are still yet two sermons left to be preached by Haggai.
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Well, the intent and the aim is this, as I spoke a few weeks back, is to stay in chronological order.
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So Haggai preached his first sermon in the six months on the first day and then preached his second sermon, which we went through a week before last.
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He preached his second sermon in the seventh month on the 21st day of the month. Haggai's next sermon won't be preached until the 24th day of the ninth month.
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But biblically, we have it here and we have historical accounting that Zacharias preached his first sermon in the second year of Darius in the eighth month.
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So Zacharias preached in the sixth month and the seventh month. Here, Zacharias preaches his first sermon in the seventh month and then
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Zacharias preaches his first sermon here in the eighth month. So we have a chronology, an order, if you would have it, of these sermons.
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So very, very important. You'll remember in Haggai's first sermon, Haggai gave the call to the people to consider their ways to go to work on rebuilding the temple after having a 15 to 20 year, roughly a 15 to 20 year lull in the action, so to speak.
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In Haggai's second sermon, he preached concerning the glory of the temple, of the glory of the latter temple being greater than the glory of the first temple, which folks had their hearts and minds fixed upon, which pointed to Jesus Christ, the greater temple, the greater tabernacle himself.
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And so today, as we look at this first sermon of Zacharias, we'll try to lay a little bit of just contextual information, give you a little bit of contextual information to start off with so that you have at least a little bit of understanding of who
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Zacharias is. Now, Zacharias had been referred to as some historically throughout church history as the prophet of restoration.
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Now, who was Zacharias and what was Zacharias like the prophet
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Jeremiah, like the prophet Ezekiel? Zacharias was not only a prophet, but he was a priest as well.
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He is called here in the book of Zechariah in that first verse, he is called the son of Barakaya, right?
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Or the son of Edo. And we have so Barakaya was his father, Edo was his grandfather.
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Now, in chapter six, in verse 14 of what we read in the book of Ezra, he's only referred to as Zacharias, the son of Edo, which is there's no there's no problem there.
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There's no issue there. What typically happened with genealogies, if maybe the father had died, the next living relative was listed as in that genealogical order.
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So Zacharias was the grandson of Edo. Now, his father likely probably died when he was young.
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He is, again, his grandfather is Edo. Edo, who was Edo? Edo was one of the priests who returned with Zerubbabel and Joshua from Babylon.
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So it's likely that Zacharias had been born while in the
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Babylonian captivity. So he was born in Babylon and came out with the first wave of exiles.
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There were three waves of exiles that came out of the Babylonian captivity. The first wave, as we have in the book of Ezra, there was nearly about 50 ,000 people that came out in this first wave.
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And so Zacharias was, again, having been born in Babylon, came in with this first wave of exiles.
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Zacharias was the younger of the two prophets between him and Haggai. Haggai was likely the older of the two.
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Haggai, in his second sermon, if you'll remember from week before last, Haggai was the one that asked the question, by the spirit of the
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Lord, how many of you remember the temple in its former glory? And it's likely he was able to remember the temple in its former glory, him being older.
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So as we have it read, what this does with both Haggai and with Zacharias, it gives us both a view from the older generation and a view from the younger generation.
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But both generations, whether old or young, were looking unto the
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Lord. This is beautiful. So one of the best ways, just maybe something helpful, as we make sense of these two men's sermons, one of the best ways that we can make a distinction between the sermons of Haggai and of Zacharias are simply to divide them into two groups.
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So if you're taking notes and you want to put Haggai's sermons and Zacharias' sermons down, one group are
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Haggai's, and of course, the other group is Zacharias'. Haggai's sermons were centered around rebuilding the physical temple.
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Haggai's sermons were centered around rebuilding the physical temple, largely, with just a little bit of eschatological reference, which is like what we have in Haggai's second sermon.
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And we're going to define some of these terms here shortly, too. Zacharias' sermons were designed to encourage
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God's people about the coming Messiah and the future bringing in of the eternal state.
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We're intentionally using these words today because this is going to be very beneficial for us as we get further through Zacharias'.
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Zacharias' sermons you're going to see just blossom and they bloom and they become bigger and bigger.
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So it's important that we understand what's happening and what's taking place. So Zacharias' sermons were designed to encourage
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God's people about the coming Messiah and the future bringing in of the eternal state.
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Zacharias' sermons were largely prophetic in nature with much apocalyptic terminology, or also it's also referred to as figurative language, apocalyptic terminology, or it's also called figurative language.
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Just to define prophecy for us here briefly, prophecy,
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Albert Barnes said this in his commentary, prophecy in its long perspective uses a continual foreshortening or speaking of things in relation to their eternal meaning and significance.
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So foreshortening means he compacts them down. What happens a lot of times in prophecy that is far off distant future, it's compacted down so that the hearers can comprehend what is being said.
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As to which, Barnes went on to say, as to that which shall survive, speaking of that, when heaven and earth and even time shall have passed away.
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This is very, very important. So what it does, this prophecy, this foreshortening, it blends together the beginning of time and the earthly end.
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It blends together both the preparation and the result. It brings together the commencement of redemption and also its completion.
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It blends what it does, this foreshortening, it brings our Lord's coming in humility into view and it brings his second coming in majesty into view.
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So to prophesy by definition simply is this, is to proclaim or to speak
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God's word. It means to warn or foretell what
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God has done, what God is doing, or what
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God is yet to do. Right? So prophecy, prophecy is to proclaim or to speak
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God's words, to warn, foretell what God has done, what God is doing and what
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God is yet to do. So when we see scripture, we read scripture concerning, and you hear this terminology used, prophecy, understand that is speaking
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God's word. Prophecy is God's word. So we use a couple of other terms there, and I want to define those as we enter into this passage here.
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Eschatology, you've all heard that word, but it's important that we not only hear these big words, but that we know what these words mean, right?
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So eschatology defined, eschatology equals the study of last things.
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The study of last things. That's the short definition.
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The full definition of eschatology, when we talk about eschatology, you hear the word eschatos or eschaton in the
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Greek. We're talking about, in the fuller definition, eschatology is the formation of ideas about the end of life.
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It's the formation of ideas about the end of life or the end of the world. And so in Christian theology, when we talk about the eschaton, when we talk about the eschatos, we're talking about the last judgment and the resurrection.
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The last judgment and the resurrection. Now, this leads us to the next statement that we term we want to define and why it's significant.
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You heard us use the term eternal state. Some of you may or may not have ever heard that term eternal state.
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The eternal state, as defined by Nathan Busenitz, a professor of theology at the
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Master's Seminary, defines it as such. He says this, concerning the eternal state, history is heading toward a new heaven and a new earth, which is often referred to as the eternal state.
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Busenitz says this is not a mystical realm, but a real tangible place where the people of God will dwell in the presence of the triune
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God forever. Very, very important. So can you can you begin to make this connection when we talk about this prophecy that largely that we'll get into in the book of Zechariah as we move further, but how eschatology points us to the eternal state.
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We live right now in time, but when
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Christ comes again, time will be no more.
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The eternal state will have been ushered in. So very, very important there.
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Anthony Hokema, another theologian, says this concerning the eternal state.
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Since God will make the new earth his dwelling place, and since where God dwells there heaven is, we shall then continue to be in heaven while we are on the new earth.
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For heaven and earth will then no longer be separated as they are now, but will be one.
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Very, very important. And I know because this is infinite things that we're talking about here.
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It's hard to get our mind around that. So concerning this definition, it's helpful for us to understand and to recognize that when we talk about the eschaton, we are talking about the difference between time and eternity.
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When time ceases to be no more. And all there is is eternity.
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How do we know the new heavens and the new earth hasn't been ushered in yet? Because we still wear watches.
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Because there's still sin in the world. But when the new heavens and the new earth are ushered in, time will be no more.
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The scriptures tell us that there will be no moon need for the sun or the moon for the
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Lamb of God will be the light of that great city. So the design of both prophets
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Haggai and Zechariah, both was to encourage the people to not only encourage the people, but to encourage their religious leaders and their civil leaders,
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Joshua and Zerubbabel, to encourage them in their work of rebuilding the temple and to point to the future greater hope of God's people.
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In the Reformation Study Bible, one of the notes in the introductory section for Zechariah, they said this,
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Zechariah's visions combined the present and the future in an interwoven fabric that is impossible to tear apart.
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It's impossible to really to draw sharp lines and to separate them.
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That is why it is often difficult to ascertain what time period the prophet has in mind throughout this book.
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That's what we'll see as we go throughout the book. Like the promises, they relate to both the immediate audience in Zechariah's day because we never want to lose context, right?
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They relate both to the audience in Zechariah's day and also to the distant future.
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This telescoping or compression of the near and the distant future is a common feature of prophetic writings because it brings those things that are out of view beyond our purview into view so that we can see them, so that we can at least make a little bit of sense of them.
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A little bit more by way of introduction, and we'll get into the exposition of the text, but as we make our way into these sermons, particularly after this first sermon, we will see that the remainder of the sermons in the book of Zechariah are prophetic and eschatological, meaning they point to both the coming of Jesus in the flesh, in the incarnation.
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They point to that, and they point to the coming of Jesus in final judgment.
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So Zechariah largely consists of that apocalyptic or that figurative language.
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To define apocalyptic language, it's used in modern biblical studies to refer to a type of discourse that describes a lot of times in highly figurative terms, but what it describes is sudden divine intervention.
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That's what apocalyptic language does. It describes sudden divine intervention in human history for one of two reasons, for either salvation or judgment.
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For salvation or judgment. So in Apocalypse, the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ is an apocalyptic book in and of itself.
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It is intended to interpret present earthly circumstances in light of the supernatural world and of the future.
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Also, it's intended to influence both the understanding and the behavior of the audience by means of divine authority.
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Meaning, what is spoken by the prophets is intended to direct the hearers to obedience to the
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Lord God Almighty and who he is. So figurative language is also referred to as symbolic language.
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Again, same thing, points to sudden divine intervention into human affairs in order to bring about salvation, salvific deliverance for the righteous, and sudden judgment for the wicked.
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Be sure of this to remember. It might be 2024 and a lot of things may have changed since you were a child, but one thing has still never changed.
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Jesus saves. He's savior of the world. He shed his blood to die in atonement for the sins of his people.
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The second surety that you can make on is this, that he will judge those outside of those that are not found in him.
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This is why we preach the gospel every week. This is why we proclaim to you that Christ died for your sins, that he was buried, that he arose again on the third day, that he ascended to the father where he ever lives to make intercession for us and that one day he is coming again.
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Very important that we remember these things. So in short, these sermons of Zachariah gave hope.
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They gave hope to God's people by pointing them specifically here by pointing them to the new covenant in Christ Jesus.
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Because they were here in this time. Contextually, they are still in the old covenant.
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They are still under under that curse of the old covenant, where if they disobey, they will perish.
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But in the new covenant, Christ paid the price. Christ fulfilled the law's demands by keeping the law to the jump and to the tittle and dying as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.
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This is what's being pointed to in the sermons of Zachariah. And not only is the new covenant in Christ being pointed to, but the new heavens and the new earth we'll find as we get later into Zachariah is being pointed to.
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So there is a strong emphasis in this book of Zachariah. And as we will approach this material, we will approach it as we always do looking to Christ.
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We will trace the line of thought as it leads to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as anticipated by the
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Old Testament and the Savior who fulfills its promises and answers all of its questions.
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So frequent and dramatic are the pointers to Christ in Zachariah that the book might be dubbed or the book might be called, as one of the historians have said, it might be called the gospel of Zachariah because he points so much to Christ in this book.
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It is sometimes said that the gospel is in the Old Testament concealed and in the
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New Testament it is revealed. When we get to the book of Zachariah, Christ is barely, as this historian said,
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Christ is barely concealed, but often blatantly revealed to the eyes of those trained by the later revelations of the
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New Testament. So that being said, we enter into this text.
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Remember, it's apocalyptic. It's eschatological. It points us to the new covenant in Christ.
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It points us to the coming judgment of Christ. Because what happens in context in just five to 600 years after these sermons are being preached in five to 600 years from that time, the
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Messiah would be born. And in just a few years following that, the
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Lamb of God himself would give his life a ransom for many on the cross.
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And it is by the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ that this new covenant would be instituted.
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The old would pass away and behold, all things were becoming new.
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So encouraging what we have here in the word of God. So as we move right along here, what is now when we talk about the resurrection and again, you say, when are we going to get to the text?
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We're getting there slowly, but it's so important that we look at this through the death, burial and the resurrection of Christ.
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For that is the fulfillment of all that we're reading about what is and what was the major impact of this event in history.
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What was and what is the major impact of the death, the burial and the crucifixion in history?
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And I will speak of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. And when I do,
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I'm saying this to say that the fabric of time and space was torn would be an understatement of the largeness of what took place.
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Amen. The Bible tells us that when Jesus bowed his head and when he gave up the ghost, that the veil of the temple was torn into from top to bottom.
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The Bible tells us that the earth shook. The Bible tells us this, that on his resurrection day, that the graves of some of the saints came out of their graves and they walked with him into the city.
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And it was on this day and at that hour that what had been promised by the prophets concerning the
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Messiah, the savior of the world, they came to pass. That's why this is so significant for us.
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That's why this is so important. Like a shockwave. The best way I can think to describe this was like a shockwave that moved backwards and forwards through time.
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The effects of the life, the death and the burial and the resurrection of Christ were felt by all of creation.
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The moment that Jesus said it is finished, like a boomerang, all the way back to the garden, the benefits of the new covenant reached.
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And those who from that time look for the Messiah, they were saved. And those in the
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Old Testament look forward to the Messiah. We today look back to Calvary.
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And I might add that we now, as same individual men, women, boys and girls, we no longer have to have a downcast view.
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We now look to the heavens from which one day Jesus himself will come again.
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He is our hope. This hope that we have of the second coming of Christ is and ought to be a prominent theme and a prominent feature of Bible teachers and Bible preachers.
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In the book of First Thessalonians, by the way, Paul wrote two letters to the church at Thessalonica.
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In his first letter to Thessalonica, at the end of the first four chapters, guess what?
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And how Paul encourages the church by pointing them to the coming again of the
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Savior. In First Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 9 and verse 10,
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Paul says they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception that we had among you.
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And how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and the true God. And notice what he says, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
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Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. In First Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 19 and 20,
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Paul states this, for what is our hope or joy or crown or boasting before our
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Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and our joy.
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In First Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 11 through 13, Paul says now may
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God our Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.
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And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you.
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So that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our
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God and Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus with all of his saints.
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You see why this is so important? You see why we take time to focus on these things?
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Because it is an encouragement in the faith. First Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13 through 18, this is what the apostle
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Paul says, but we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren. We do not want you to be misinformed.
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We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, about those who have died already.
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Because we do not want you to grieve as others grieve who do not have hope.
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Church, for the Christian, I know it is sad. It breaks our hearts when we consider losing our loved ones and going to their funeral.
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But know this, precious in the sight of God is the death of his saints.
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For our loved ones do not belong to us, they belong to him.
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He said this, for since we believe that Jesus died and he rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
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For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the
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Lord, will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
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And the dead in Christ, the Bible says, will rise first. But wait, there's more.
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Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them, with them in the clouds to meet the
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Lord in the air. And so will we always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
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We consider the message of Jesus is coming soon to be a message of damnation.
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It is a message of damnation to the lost and to the dying, those who are dead in their trespasses and in their sins.
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But to those who have been quickened, who have been regenerated, who have been born again, it is a message of hope.
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When you get down in the dumps, when your husband or wife gets down in the dumps, look at them and just say,
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Jesus is coming again. We don't know when, but he is coming.
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And so, as we now examine these words, keep in mind that in Ezra, Hagaz, and Zechariah's day were being pointed to the blessed hope.
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The blessed hope of the Savior coming in the incarnation and of his coming in majesty at the second coming.
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Perhaps as we read through this first sermon, perhaps that a lot of times when we just go blindly and blankly into a text in the
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Old Testament, a lot of it seems as though it's doom and gloom. But I would say this, perhaps this first sermon by Zechariah isn't necessarily a message of condemnation, but simply a loving reminder of God's goodness, of God's long suffering, and of God's patience.
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We should always, always keep in mind the character and the nature of Almighty God.
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In the book of Numbers chapter 23 and verse 19, Balaam speaking to Balak reminds him that God is not a man that he should lie.
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Or a son of man that he should change his mind. He has said, has he said, and will he not do it?
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This is the question asked. Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?
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The fact is this church, because of God's nature, because he is holy and because he is righteous and because he is just in all of his ways, he does not make empty threats or promises.
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Like mothers, like we do as mothers and fathers. Some of you remember, some of you are still there with the little children, right?
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You get your flip -flop or you get the flyswatter or you get the belt or you get whatever, you just wave it, thinking that's going to encourage your children to obey.
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But our children are just as dumb as we are. They're just as hard -headed, they're just as stubborn.
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And what do they do? Many times they still sin and chastisement is required. But very, very important here, as we look at this, know that God was not making an empty threat.
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Why? How do we know this? Because God did not need to make an empty threat.
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God wasn't lording his authority over the people to prove that he could frighten them.
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God doesn't exist to prove that he can scare you. God exists because he is the eternal, infinite one.
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He didn't need a reason to exist. He does exist for his own good and for his own glory.
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So God wasn't lording his authority over the people to prove that he could frighten them. But rather, because he is kind and because he is merciful, he points them to the past.
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He points them to the past to remember what circumstances and what conditions their fathers were faced with.
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And to let his current hearers know that they don't have to suffer as their fathers suffered before them.
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Notice here in the text, in verse 2, what does he say? The Lord was very angry with your fathers.
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This is a statement of fact. This was not a statement of fact that the people would not or could not understand.
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Where did they just come from? Babylon. They had been in Babylonian captivity for 70 years because of their disobedience and their rebellion against the
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Holy God. You look back all the way back through history from Genesis 1 to...
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You read through the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch there. And you see the history of God's people there.
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It was a constant pattern of obey and disobey. Repent.
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Forgiven. Disobey. Sin. Disobey. Repent. Forgiven.
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It was a constant pattern. And what God says through the prophet Zechariah here in verse 2 is simply a statement of fact.
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The Lord was very angry with your fathers. In verse 3,
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Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts.
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Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the
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Lord of hosts. Friends, it matters who says what's being said.
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You let Asa try to tell Ruby what to do. And that probably won't go over too well.
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But you let Asa come to Ruby and say, Mama or Daddy said do this.
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It's a whole other story. It matters who said what's being said. And it is the
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Lord of hosts. Three times we have that repeated there. Three times.
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What he's saying to them, as Matthew Henry said, It's as though he's saying turn you to me in a way of faith and repentance.
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Turn to God today in the way of faith and repentance.
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Turn to God today in the way of duty and obedience.
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You owe God your life. Every breath that you had.
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Every time we draw in a breath, one of the old Puritans said, we suck in mercy. Every single time.
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Turn to me in the way of faith and repentance. Turn to me in the way of duty and obedience. And I will turn to you,
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God said, in a way of favor and in a way of mercy. I will turn to you,
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God says, in a way of peace and in a way of reconciliation. We have this given to us as well in the
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New Testament. It is almost, it's an idea or a thought for thought exact carbon copy in the book of James.
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The book of James chapter 4 verses 4 through 10. James writes and he says, you adulterous people.
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Do you not know that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a true or to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
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Or do you suppose, do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he is made to dwell in us?
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But James says, but he gives more grace. Therefore, it says
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God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
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And then he makes this statement. Remember what we read in Zechariah. Turn to me and I will turn to you.
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What the book of James says, submit yourselves therefore to God. Give yourself to God.
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Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
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Cleanse your hands. You sinners purify your hearts.
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You double minded be wretched and mourn and we let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
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Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
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That's the word of God. Matthew Henry said this as well concerning the weighty nature of what he said there in verse three.
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He said, oh, that this weighty consideration had its due weight given to it.
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And he spoke contextually about his day. And I speak of contextually in our day that we are dying ministers dealing with dying people about the concerns of their immortal souls.
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My friend, what Jesus said, what shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul?
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And many people today blow that off. They say, I've heard it. Ain't nothing changed.
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I'm the same as ever. I was. And my friend, you will ever be the same as you was unless the regenerating work of the
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Holy Spirit of God does his supernatural work in your heart and your life. And if he does not, you do not believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. You will not be saved. But in one day you will find yourself like the rich man in hell and you will lift up your eyes being in torments.
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Man's biggest problem is that God is holy and that God is, according to the scriptures, angry with the wicked every day.
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And again, the mainstream Christianity would say, not my God. Then they do not have the
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God of the scriptures for God sent his son to die for sin.
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Why? Because he hates sin. There was no other way for sin to be propitiated outside of the atoning sacrifice of our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So what Zachariah does here in verse three and four, as he repeats these terms, the
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Lord of hosts return to me and I will return to you. What Zachariah is doing here is a common form of teaching.
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He tells the people basically the narrative account of their fathers that led them to where they are.
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And the story itself is simply a call to recognize when they begin to go astray and to repent quickly.
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To recognize, church, this is why Christians, we are called today to be wise.
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This is why we are called today to be sober minded, to be alert, to be aware for our enemy.
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The devil roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. You don't have to walk into a pit just because there's one in front of you.
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You should pay attention to what's going on. So we, as they hear in the text, are to be wise in our stewardship of time and life, as they both, time and life, are a gift from God.
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The preacher wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter seven, he said this, in the day of prosperity, be joyful.
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In other words, enjoy the day of prosperity. Enjoy life when things are good. And in the day of adversity, he said, consider means to think about it, to weigh it.
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For God has made the one as well as the other so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
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Solomon wrote, in my vain life, I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil doing.
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Be not overly righteous and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
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Be not overly wicked. Neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you should take hold of this.
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And from that withhold not your hand for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.
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But prosperity and adversity. The people in Babylon, when they were in captivity, they were in adversity.
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What should have taken place in their minds and in their hearts was a careful consideration of why they were there.
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And here they are in Jerusalem rebuilding the temple. This was a time of prosperity.
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They should have been joy in that while being wise at the same time. The song of Moses in the book of Psalm chapter 90.
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Moses declares this. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
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Before the mountains were brought forth, forever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting.
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You are God. You return man to dust. And notice what the song of Moses says here in Psalm 90.
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Return, O children of man. For a thousand years in your sight are as but yesterday when it is past or as a watch in the night.
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For you sweep them away as with a flood. They are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning.
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In the morning it flourishes and it is renewed. In the evening it fades and withers. For we are brought to an end by your anger is what is declared here.
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By your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
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For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh.
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The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80. Yet their span is but toil and trouble.
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They are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you?
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So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
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Return, O Lord, how long? Have pity on your servants.
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Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
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Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us and for as many years as we have seen evil.
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Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the
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Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands. Yes, upon us establish the work of our hands.
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May it be that we be as the old timers sang in this song. Near the cross,
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O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day with its shadow for me.
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Maybe the question today for us is this. Are you living in the shadow of the cross?
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And as another of the old song says, are you walking daily by the Savior side today?
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Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. This is what we have in verse four, verse four.
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We hear the prophet Zechariah make this statement from the Lord. Do not be like your fathers to whom the former prophets cried out.
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Thus says the Lord of hosts, return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.
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Do not be like your fathers to whom the former prophets cried out.
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William Grinnell said this. God not only keeps an account of thy sins, but also of the mercies that you have received.
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And you must be answerable for both sins and mercies.
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The apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippian church testified to this concerning recognition of both his sins and of his
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Savior's great mercy unto him. In the book of Philippians chapter three, the apostle
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Paul states this. Look out for dogs. Look out for the evil doers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh.
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For we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus.
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And we put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh.
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Also, if anyone else thinks he has a reason for confidence in the flesh, Paul said,
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I have the more. I was circumcised on the eighth day of eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.
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I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law, I'm a Pharisee, meaning a teacher of the law.
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As to zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As to righteousness under the law,
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I was blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
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Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing
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Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, for his sake,
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I have suffered the loss of all things. And I count them as rubbish, as dumb, as poop.
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In order that I may gain Christ and that I may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.
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This faith in Christ brings the righteousness of God that depends on faith.
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So that I may know him, the apostle Paul said, that I may know him, that I may know
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Christ and the power of his resurrection, and that I may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible,
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I might attain the resurrection from the dead. This forward looking to of the great hope.
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And he said this, it's not as though I've already attained this or that I'm already perfect.
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But I'll tell you what I do. I press on. I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus made me his own.
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Do you belong to Christ today? Are you a child of God? Repent and believe the gospel.
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And may you leave here, may you leave this place today. And when you leave this world,
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I hope and my prayer for you is this, that you will find yourself nowhere but in Jesus Christ.
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The old song says this, Rock of Ages, cleft for me.
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Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from my wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure.
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Save from wrath and make me pure. And oh, maybe you might be able to sing that last verse.
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When my pilgrimage I close, victor or the last of foes, when
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I soar to worlds unknown, and behold thee on thy throne,
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Rock of Ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee.
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Oh, may that be your prayer. May that be our cry. Moving to the close, verse 4b and 5 and 6, part of that, the scripture says here, your fathers, where are they?
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This question was asked, where are your fathers? Think about where your fathers are.
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And he goes on to say, and the prophets, do they live forever? Just to make sure
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I wasn't having some kind of a heretical thought, I wrote down in my process for studying, and what
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I do is I write down my thoughts on a section of the scripture, and then I test it by other scriptures and by what men of God have said historically.
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What I wrote down was this to this question. My answer was, your fathers are dead and gone, and so are the prophets that I sent to them.
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I got to Matthew Hendry's commentary, and guess what he said? He said, your fathers are dead and gone, and so are the prophets that I sent to them.
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That's where they was. That's why God wanted them to understand that their fathers were dead and gone.
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They had either gone one of two ways, in rebellion against God, or they were reconciled to God.
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And you will die one of two ways, people. You will die saved, or you will die lost.
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You will die in rebellion to God, or you will die reconciled to God, in Christ Jesus our
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Lord. Where do you stand today? And lastly, verse six.
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But my words, the Lord said, my words and my statutes, which
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I commanded my servants, the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?
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What a question, and what a statement in that question. Did my words not overtake your fathers?
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The answer there is yes. And so they repented, and they said, as the
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Lord of hosts has purposed to deal with us for our ways and for our deeds, so he has dealt with us.
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God's word overtook them. God's word overtook them.
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Now, my friends, in Sunday school this morning, in Romans chapter seven, the very first sentence of the very first statement of chapter seven says that we are bound by the law of God.
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That the law of God, whether you think you're better than it or above it or not, the word, the law of God, the law of sin in you has overtaken you.
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And you are captive to sin. And you are dead to Christ.
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But today, if you will but look unto Christ and live, you will be made alive in Christ and no longer be a slave to sin.
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But you can be a slave to Christ. That's a good trade right there, by the way.
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Slave to Christ. Where do you stand today? Alexander McLaren said this.
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Accept him concerning Christ. Accept him. Hold him fast.
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Trust to his guidance in present day questions for your life.
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Zachariah felt that his message belonged to the generation to whom he spoke. The questionings, the problems, whether they be social, economic, intellectual, moral.
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And in the 1800s, McLaren said, and shall I say political, they had the same issues then as we got today.
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Shall they be the social, economic, intellectual, moral, shall I say political of this day?
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They will find their solution in that ancient word. And that ancient word is this, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.
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And McLaren closed that statement. He said this, there is the key to all problems. For it is in him, in Christ, that are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.