February 12, 2023 – Sunday Service

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the corporate worship of our

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God. Please stand. Oh, sing to the

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Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the Earth. Sing to the

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Lord, bless his name. Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.

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Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples.

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For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods.

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For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

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Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

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Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. The world also is firmly established.

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It shall not be moved. He shall judge the peoples righteously.

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Let the heavens rejoice and let the Earth be glad. Let the sea roar in all its fullness. Let the field be joyful and all that is in it.

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Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord, for he is coming.

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For he is coming to judge the Earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth.

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Come now, let us worship him. Please pray with me. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we come into your gracious and glorious presence as sons and daughters because of the love you have shown us, your people, in sending your

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Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and filling us with your Spirit. We ask that our worship would be pleasing in your sight through that perfect mediation, through our great high priest, the

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Lord Jesus, and that our hearts would be turned to you as your people.

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We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Please kneel for the corporate confession of sin if you're able.

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Let us now join together with one voice confessing our sins. Jesus.

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Forgive my sins. Forgive the sins I have remember. And the sins

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I have forgotten. Temptation.

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And those times when I have been stubborn in the face of correction. Forgive the times

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I have been proud of my own achievements. And those when I have failed to boast in your works.

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Forgive the harsh judgments I have made of others. And the leniency

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I have shown myself. Forgive the lies I have told to others.

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And the truths I have avoided. Jesus, have mercy on me and make me whole.

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Amen. I, please stand,

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I'm sorry, please stand. I, even I, am he, the

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Lord says, who blots out your transgressions for my own sake.

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And I will not remember your sins. Oh brethren, take heart today.

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If you be in Christ, your sins are forgiven. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.

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Please turn to the hymnal and number 529. Love divine, all loves excelling.

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529. Insert in Psalm eight.

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Gonna ask Alyssa to play through this one time. Psalm eight. Jeremiah chapter 52.

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Jeremiah 52. The word of the Lord. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem.

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His mother's name was Hamtula and the daughter of Jeremiah of Levana.

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He also did evil in the sight of the Lord. According to all that Jehoiachin had done for because the anger of the

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Lord, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah till he finally cast them out of his presence.

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Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign in the 10th month on the 10th day of the month that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it.

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And they built a siege wall against it all around. So the city was besieged until the evening year or 11th year of King Zedekiah by the fourth month city at night.

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Even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around and they went by way of the plain.

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But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho.

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All his army was scattered from him. So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath and he pronounced judgment on him.

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Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah and Riblah.

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He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.

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Now in the fifth month on the 10th day of the month which was the 19th year of the king of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar Adon, the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem.

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He burned the house of the Lord and the king's house, all the houses of Jerusalem that is, all the houses of the great.

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He burned with fire and all the armies of the Chaldeans were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

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And then Nebuchadnezzar Adon, the captain of the guard, carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the craftsmen.

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But Nebuchadnezzar Adon, the captain of the guard, left some of the poor of the land as vine dressers and farmers.

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The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord and the carts and the bronze sea that were in the house of the

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Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

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They also took away the pots and shovels, the trimmers, the bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered, the basins, the fire pans, the bowls, the pots, the lamp stands, the spoons, and the cups.

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Whoever was solid gold and wherever was solid silver, the captain of the guard took away.

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The two pillars on one sea, the 12 bronze bowls which were under it, and the carts which

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King Solomon made for the house of the Lord. The bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.

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Now, concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was 18 cubits. A measuring of 12 cubits could measure it in circumference, and its thickness was four fingers.

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It was hollow. A capitol of bronze was on it, and the height of the capitol was five cubits with a network and pomegranates all around the capitol of all the bronze.

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The second pillar with pomegranates was the same. There was 96 pomegranates on the sides, and all the pomegranates all around on the network were 100.

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The captain of the guard took Syria, the chief priests, Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.

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He also took out of the city an officer who had charged of the men of war, seven men of the king's house, or king's close associates, who were found in the city, the principal scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and the 60 men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city, and Nebuchadnezzar Adon, the captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

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And then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hema.

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Thus, Judah was carried away captive from its own land. These are the people whom

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Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive in the seventh year.

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3 ,023 Jews in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar were carried away from Jerusalem, 832 prisoners.

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In the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar Adon, the captain of the guard, carried away captive of the

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Jews, 743 persons. All the persons were 4 ,600.

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Now it came to pass in the 37th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the 12th month, on the 25th day of the month, that evil

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Mordoch, king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, and brought it out of prison.

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And he spoke kindly, and he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

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So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.

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And as for the provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

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This is the word of the Lord. I was mentioning to Mark this morning that when we started

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Jeremiah, as the reading, it seemed like it would take forever to get through it, and now we have completed it.

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And children, for some context, we are in Zechariah in our sermon series, and this comes on the aftermath of the exile.

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Jeremiah is the beginning of it, going into exile. So this is 70 years prior to the

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Zechariah passage that we're working on now. So it's really interesting in context for us as a church to hit that at this point.

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Thank you, brother, for your reading. Please take up your bulletin if you need it, and let us confess our faith in the singing of the

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Apostles' Creed. Please take up the hymnal and turn to number 691.

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It is well with my soul. 691.

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Sorry, Alyssa. In seeing the multitudes,

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Jesus went up on a mountain, and when he was seated, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

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For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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Please stand. I ask you to take out the bulletin and find the

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Psalm of the month, Psalm 33, the inside fold of Psalm 8,

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Psalm 33. Please turn in your

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Bibles, if you would, to Zechariah, Zechariah chapter eight.

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I'm just going to read the portion we'll be covering today, which will be verses nine through 17.

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This is God's holy and infallible word. Zechariah 8, nine.

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Thus says the Lord of hosts, let your hands be strong.

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You who have been hearing in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets who spoke in the day the foundation was laid for the house of the

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Lord of hosts, that the temple might be built. For before these days, there were no wages for man nor any hire for beast.

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There was no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in.

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For I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor. But now

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I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the

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Lord of hosts. For the seed shall be prosperous. The vine shall give its fruit.

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The ground shall give her increase and the heavens shall give their due.

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I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these. And it shall come to pass that just as you were a curse among the nations,

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O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you and you shall be a blessing.

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Do not fear, let your hands be strong. For thus says the

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Lord of hosts, just as I determined to punish you and your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the

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Lord of hosts, and I would not relent. So again, in these days, I am determined to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

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Do not fear. These are the things you shall do. Speak each man the truth to his neighbor.

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Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace. Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor, and do not love a false oath.

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For all these are the things that I hate, says the Lord. May the

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Lord be pleased with our study of his word. Please pray with me. O Lord, who is a pardoning

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God like you, who redeems a wicked people out of the pit like you, who takes people who are soiled in sin and clothes them in fine linen, who takes a people who are not a people and makes them a people.

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O Lord, we rejoice that you are a loving and redeeming God. And we pray that as believers in the

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Lord Jesus Christ, our response of faith will also be obedience and a comprehensive faithfulness of life.

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The title of the message will cause people who have had God as their

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God in response to his grace in covenant renewal, which we've just considered recently, are bound to comply with the stipulations of the covenant.

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This is no works righteousness, but grace produces fruit.

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Faith yields faithfulness. And we, as the people of God, like our spiritual forefathers, must respond to the gracious working of God in redeeming us and delivering us from any bondages, comprehensive whole of life.

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First point, let your hands be strong. It's interesting that do not fear, let your hands be strong pop up in total four times in our section.

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Do not fear, let your hands be strong. The first point, let your hands be strong.

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Maybe put do not fear in parentheses. Second, what

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Zechariah is speaking of here is the dawn of a new day. Second point is the dawn of a new day.

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Third, the curse reversed. The third point is the curse reversed.

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And fourth, covenant obligations, which will find our covenant privileges.

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I'm gonna say those really quickly again, and I will hopefully hit them in the message. First, let your hands be strong.

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Do not fear. Second, the dawn of a new day. Third, the curse reversed.

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And fourth, covenant obligations. Thus says the

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Lord of hosts, verse nine, let your hands be strong.

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The hands of man are the instruments of work, the livelihood of history passed through working hands.

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When we say with Paul and others, we lift up holy hands to pray, we're lifting up our very lives to God and worship.

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The very means by which we have sustenance and bread, and particularly in an agronomy economy.

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We need to work and to cultivate the ground and be husbandmen of animals, and we need to build things and cultivate and grow things.

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All of this is accomplished by the work of men's hands. What's hard for us in the time that we live, we live in the information age, and we do labor with our hands, but our hands are really clean and sterile.

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They're not in the dirt. We don't have the same close connection to the ground and the land and the fruitfulness and all the labor and toil it requires to survive.

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The livelihood of history passed through working hands.

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And here, the imperative is connected to boldness and diligence.

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In performing the work, this great work of the temple rebuild, and reestablishing

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Jerusalem's and Judea's fruit bearing, both spiritually and materially, the people need to be bold and they need to be diligent.

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The declaration we just learned last week of covenant and its renewal in last week's text, and they shall be my people, this is from verse eight, and I will be their

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God, has a further description. Look at it, verse eight. It says, in truth, in faithfulness, in righteousness, the good news of Jesus Christ coming into the world to save sinners is accompanied by an obligation, repent and believe.

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It's not enough for us to say Jesus came in the world to save sinners. We also have to implore our hearers to repent and believe.

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There is an imperative that flows out of the indicative. There is a corresponding activity that accompanies grace.

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Faith, faithfulness, receiving the gift of faith, and the corresponding obedient faithfulness that the

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Lord has brought them back into the land. Let us not forget the land promises and their significance to the people.

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This process has been in the works and in motion since the Exodus. We just read in Jeremiah that the people have been carried away.

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Now they've been brought back. Now the promises of the land are there.

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So the people are encouraged to be strong, to do the work that has been given them to do.

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Let your hands be strong. I want you to turn back one book to the book of Haggai.

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Please turn there. Just one book to the left, book of Haggai. These two prophets are contemporary to one another.

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You may remember in the early chapters of the night visions, I made some reference to Haggai. I'm going to come back here periodically as we consider the rest of the book.

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What's being referenced in verse nine of Zechariah eight is articulated with maybe more depth in Haggai two.

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Let's look at Haggai two beginning at verse one. In the seventh month, on the 21st of the month, the word of the

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Lord came to Haggai the prophet saying, speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehoshaddak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people.

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Same language as our section. Zerubbabel's governor, Joshua, great type of Christ, is the high priest.

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Hold your finger there. Look up at verse 15 of chapter one. It says on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius, our prophecy beginning in chapter seven started in the fourth year of King Darius.

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This prophecy had already been articulated to the people of God by the prophet Haggai. It's in their minds, and Zechariah is saying now we're progressing to the fulfillment, at least in part, of what

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Haggai promises in chapter two of his book. Listen to what he says.

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Speaking to the remnant of the people, this is what it said. Verse three. Who was the left among you who saw the temple in its former glory?

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There's a couple very old people who were carried away to Babylon while the glorious temple was in Jerusalem.

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A handful. And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing?

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They see some of the grandeur in these early plans and development as the temple's being built.

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It doesn't look as grandiose, doesn't look as big and as powerful as Solomon's temple.

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Yet now, be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord. That language that's a drumbeat in our section, be strong.

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Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehoshaddak, the high priest. And be strong, all you people of the land, says the

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Lord. And work, for I am with you, says the

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Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you.

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Do not fear. Be strong, do not fear.

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It seems impossible, build the temple. Start planting the seed in the ground of Judea.

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Start raising animals again on the plains. But now the question is, is these developments, are they limited to this portion of Israel's history?

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We have been reading Zechariah in a very Christological way and sometimes you may be asking, does he have the liberty to do this with this particular part of the text?

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Well, I believe this is the burden and the message of the prophets to get us to Christ.

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Look at what Haggai says after this. For thus says the Lord of hosts, once more, it is a little while,

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I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations.

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Do you know who that is, children? It's capitalized strangely there, isn't it, in the

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Bible? The desire of all nations is the

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Lord Jesus Christ. So obscure books like Haggai and Zechariah are preaching the glory, the gospel, the coming of Christ.

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I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts, and my mind immediately, when I was considering this passage, runs to John 2, the arrival of Jesus Christ, the

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Messiah to cleanse the temple, the presence of God himself filling the temple in the person of Christ.

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This is psalm of the glory that he speaks of. And what we learn in the progression of Revelation is that God is building a spiritual house.

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We've said this a number of times, but it bears repeating, a house made up of the people of God from every tongue, tribe, and nation.

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The Lord is shaking the nations, and they are going to come in, and they're gonna come to the desire of all nations, and I will fill the temple with glory, says the

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Lord of hosts. If you have a vision for this, it's very exciting.

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Verse eight says, the silver is mine, the gold is mine, says the

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Lord of hosts. It's interesting that this description is worked out in Zechariah, when the

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Babylonian captives send the gold and the silver back. They recognize, this is what Haggai's talking about, the silver and gold belong to the

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Lord, let's send our money to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former.

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The second temple and its architecture and spectacle was not greater than Solomon's temple, but the temple that Christ builds far eclipses the glory of the temple.

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In this place, he says, in the church, in the living stones, the dwelling place of God and the spirit, in that place

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I'm going to grant peace. Says the Lord of hosts. So Haggai and Zechariah provide,

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Jeremiah, provide a lot of context to explain the events. Now let's turn back to Zechariah chapter eight.

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Haggai's prophecy two years prior to the current prophecy. Haggai's in the second year of Darius.

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Zechariah prophesied in the fourth year in this section beginning at chapter seven, the fourth year of Darius.

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The temple project has more significance than the people realize.

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The glory of God will fill the temple with the incarnation of Christ.

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He is the desire of all nations. Do you remember the dying words of Jacob in Genesis 49?

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The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes, until him shall be the obedience of the people.

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Jacob is prophesying in Genesis 49 about the arrival of the king, the

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Lord Jesus Christ. God's people need to be bold and diligent in the work he has given us to do.

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Your hands need to be strong. Mitch is wrestling three little children, covenant children in the pew today.

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He's gotta be bold and diligent. Are you wanting to raise a faithful family?

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Do you wanna have a godly marriage? You want your children raised in the nurture and admonition of the

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Lord? You're God's people. Do not fear. Let your hands be strong and persevere in that work every day.

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Mark and I want to, and I hope it's a vision for you, we want to build a church that our great -great -grandchildren will attend and thrive in.

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We need to let our hands be strong. I mean, do we care about the future in that way, that we're going to be building something that we'll never see?

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This is 500 years before Christ in Zechariah 8. Do you want the men and women of the church to be discipled?

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Let your hands be strong. Have a discipleship group with men and women.

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Disciple people individually. Encourage them to disciple others. Go to the campus of UCF and preach the gospel there.

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Make disciples of the nations. The glory of God is coming to the temple, but the temple is going to be made by masons and carpenters.

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They have to go and put the mortar, they have to put the studs, they have to do all the process of building the structure.

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It's interesting that the Lord allows us to do these things, isn't it? Prosperity, what we're going to learn in a little bit is really connected to work, and young men, you need to get a vision for this.

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Prosperity comes with opportunity for you to perform work. That's how you prosper.

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God doesn't send bags of gold coins to Jerusalem. He doesn't do it.

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He makes a barren, desolate ground fertile. He sends rain. So you have to go out and hoe and weed and water and pluck and do all that and chase the birds away from your crops.

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The temple must be built. Do you remember last week? And they shall be my people and I will be their

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God. The Lord has blessed them and us. We are to respond to his love with obedience, diligence, fearlessness, and faithfulness.

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The temple must be built. We get this message every week in Zechariah. In Zechariah's day, the temple had to be built.

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May I say the temple today must be built. The people of God must be built up.

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We are in a temple construction project of our own in Christ, living stones, temple.

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God works. He builds his church, right? He's the one who does it.

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There's no building of the church unless he does it, and we work. You ever read Ephesians chapter four?

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The way men are saved is through the foolishness of the gospel preached. People have to be discipled.

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They have to be led. We are working to build the temple of God. God's building it, just like he is in Zechariah, but we have a work to perform.

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As we consider verse 10, we have to understand something of the lack of resources.

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Look at verse 10. For before these days, there were no wages for man, nor any hire for beast.

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We learned last week that the land was desolate, so we don't have to hire people to come and collect the harvest because there's no harvest.

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I got some really fine oxen here to plow your field, sir. Would you like to hire my oxen?

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No, I have no need of your oxen because the ground is dry.

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I'm not gonna plant my seed in dry ground. It's going to be eaten up and wasted.

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The period, about 20 years, there's no need to pillage and to steal.

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There's no peace from the enemy or whoever went in or out. And even the people of God were set one against each other, one another.

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For I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor. This is what exile and this is what sin does.

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It causes destruction. There's no peace.

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The people are harassed by many enemies. They're at odds with their neighbor, all of this as a result of covenant unfaithfulness.

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You see, we have obligations we have to uphold or we suffer temporal consequences from our

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God. Well, we're on to my second point, the dawn of a new day.

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Look at verse 11. The intervening period, the early days of the temple rebuild have been very difficult.

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But now there's a promise from God. Verse 11, I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the

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Lord of hosts. How will things be different now from that time of desolation and barrenness?

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Look what verse 12 says. The seed shall be prosperous. The vine shall give its fruit.

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The Carlys brought in the wine today for us for communion.

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And my suspicion is they went to a store and purchased it off the shelf.

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These people had to go through the entire process of planting and watering and cultivating to squeeze the grapes through the wine press to get wine.

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The vine is gonna give its fruit. Physical prosperity is coming to the land and it's picturesque and indicative of a spiritual prosperity that's more significant.

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One of my favorite passages in all scripture is John 15. I am the vine, you are the branches.

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The vine shall give its fruit. The cursed ground shall give her increase.

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You remember those, the fall in Genesis 2. This is a dawning of a new day, a reversal of the curse.

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The heavens shall give their due and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all of these things.

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This land's fruitfulness is more than the physical sustenance of the nation. It is the spiritual vivification, the life -giving breath of the people.

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The people in covenant with God must remain bound to him in love and obedience.

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We've seen, we just read in Jeremiah, we know the consequences of disobedience, it's exile, it's desolation, it's barrenness.

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As I mentioned, I think we probably should plant a garden.

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God says he's gonna cause the remnant of this people to possess all these. We're too detached from the agronomy of scripture.

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We take it for granted that grocery store that's just full of produce and meat. Do you remember how crazy people were and how they acted when there was a run on toilet paper and hand sanitizer in COVID?

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People were trampling each other for Purell and toilet paper.

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What would happen if there was a real famine? We know nothing of this kind of suffering.

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Some of our parents and grandparents in the Great Depression, they had a brush with this, but not a real famine.

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10 % of men out of work, 15%, pretty bad. But a famine?

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There's no produce in the stores. There's nowhere you can drive to go and get it.

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There's no meat to be had. There's no vegetables or grain to be had.

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That's famine. And then, like Joseph saved his family from, what would happen if there was a real famine in our time?

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The desperation of desolation for Zechariah's audience is now passing.

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The Lord is bringing prosperity to the sea. The vine is yielding its fruit. The ground is giving her increase.

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The heavens, the skies, the rain clouds have come, and the

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Lord in his mercy will cause the remnant of his people to possess all of these things.

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It's a dawning of a new day. These things are all no big deal to us, but there could be a time in our future where I can't order up groceries on my phone.

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There might not be any groceries. That'd really throw a spanner in the works, wouldn't it?

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If there's no way to go get it, what will we do? All of our technology, all of our ability, what would we do?

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It moves us to the third point. That's the reversal of the curse.

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Look at verse 13. It shall come to pass that just as you were a curse among the nations,

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O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you and you shall be a blessing.

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Do not fear. Let your hands be strong. The Jewish people have suffered greatly, even in modern times.

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Anti -Semitism is rising again. They are, at times in history, and no doubt the church, maybe more so now, are a byword, a pejorative, a curse word, those

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Christians. Remember the Romans? Those Christians, those Jews.

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The name of God's people has been and continues to be associated with cursing.

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Their name was uttered with disgust. We have it in our culture today.

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Go into the secular workplace. Oh, you're a Christian, really? I wonder if our disobedience is partly responsible.

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Their disobedience made them an object of scorn. They're getting carried away, and the pagan nations are mocking them, saying, as we've sung recently, where is your

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God? God removed his hand of protection, and they were smited on the cheek.

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But now, verse 13, just as you were once a curse, so I will save you and you shall be a blessing.

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Do not fear. Let your hands be strong. With certainty that I promise your destruction, as we read about in Jeremiah, for thus says the

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Lord of hosts, just as I determined to punish you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and it happened, they were punished,

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I would not relent, and God did not relent. In these days, verse 15,

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I am determined to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear.

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He punished them, he chastened them, he did not relent for 70 years, but now he's determined to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah, and he admonishes them again, do not fear.

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Let your hands be strong. Well, that brings us to our last point, and that is covenant obligations.

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The Lord has established for us who are Christians today, we declared our union with Christ and our forgiveness of our sins, so we have some security in our lives.

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We also have a responsibility. They shall be my people, and I will be their

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God in truth and faithfulness and righteousness.

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And the two obligations they have in terms of their working in the world is first to build the temple and to be a blessing.

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In verse 16, they're also admonished to do other things. They're to speak the truth to their neighbors.

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They're to pronounce righteous judgments in their gates. There can be no corruption, no deceit in the magisterial process of justice and truth and peace.

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Their relations with their neighbor, we've already covered, they have to have just weights and honest measures.

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They're not to commit murder in their hearts, verse 17. Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor.

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Do not love a false oath that's making an oath with no intent of keeping it.

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There can be none of that among God's people. He says, for all these things

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I hate, says the Lord. So here's the picture.

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The people of God have come through a very rough period in their history, a period of their disobedience and their lack of faithfulness, their unbelief has been punished by oppressors.

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Now they've come back into the land and they're beginning to see on the horizon the future of the temple being built and a promise of a new day where God would be with them and he would be their

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God and they would be together. They would be his people, they are his people.

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He loves them, but they're required to obey. I'd like to close by going to Deuteronomy chapter 28.

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Can you turn there with me? The covenant has been renewed at Moab, Deuteronomy 28.

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Now it shall come to pass, this is verse one, if you diligently obey the voice of the

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Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments, which I command you today, that the

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Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. You obey the voice of the

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Lord your God. They'll come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of your

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God. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed you shall be in the country.

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Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

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This is a very practical religion with very practical blessings. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

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Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face.

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They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

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The Lord will command the blessing on you and your storehouses and all of which you set your hand.

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He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Brethren, think about how many failures existed.

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I've been reading the Old Testament in your reading plan between Deuteronomy 28 and Zechariah 8, astounding.

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He loves to forgive his people. Blessing his people is the normal course of action.

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Judgment is really the anomaly, if you think of it. It's strange, but it's true. He's more eager to bless his people than to chasten them.

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Verse nine, I love this. He says, the Lord will establish you as a holy people to himself.

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Just as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, then all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the

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Lord and they shall be afraid of you. It's not that long ago in their history for Zechariah that they were a curse word.

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At the end of the chapter next week, 10 men are gonna be grabbing the sleeve of every Jew, knowing that God is with them.

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God's able to transform and change things rapidly, quickly for his glory.

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The Lord, verse 11, will grant you plenty of goods in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the

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Lord swore to your fathers to give you. Zechariah 8, these promises are being realized.

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The Lord will open to you his good treasure, the heavens, to give you the rain in your land and its season, and to bless all the work of your hand.

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Doesn't send gold coins from heaven, he blesses our work.

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Have strong hands, be of good courage, do not fear. The Lord, verse 13, will make you the head and not the tail.

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You shall be above only and not be beneath if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which

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I command you today, and are careful to observe them. You shall not turn aside from any of these words which

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I command to you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

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Now let's pause here. This call to obedience is a covenant obligation, but it's not a conditional salvation.

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All of this is true because God is their God and they are his people. We have to reframe the idea of works in our minds.

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The Christian faith does not teach any form of a works righteousness, but it does say that real genuine faith produces good works.

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Unmistakable teaching of scripture. But the warning,

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I'm only gonna read one of it, the rest of the chapter is the curses on disobedience.

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I'm only gonna read the first verse. But it shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the

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Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments and his statues, what I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.

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You and I don't have to have the same level or degree of fear of punishment.

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Or chastening because of Jesus Christ. How loving is our

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God to restore the people of Zechariah's day to Jerusalem. How much more so us, the people of God who have a perfect savior.

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The one on whom the curse has fallen in our stead. The one who upholds all righteousness and obedience.

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We are engrafted and united to him. His obedience is our obedience.

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Let us be those who remain in Christ and in covenant with our

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God. And I want you to think about obedience differently. Children, I want you to think about obedience to your parents differently.

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Parents, I want you to think about obedience to our God differently. It is not only your duty and obligation and a stipulation of the covenant to be faithful to him.

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That's all true. It is your privilege to fulfill these responsibilities.

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After all, we are his people and he is our

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God. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, we consider with great difficulty our own disobedience.

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And Lord, we know that the scripture teaches that we can be chastened for our disobedience.

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We thank you, oh Lord, that you are a covenant -keeping God who not only will not allow us to permanently break covenant, but you have upheld all of its stipulations and obligations.

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Lord, help us to come to the table today with joy as those who have been united to Christ, who has reversed the curse, who has fulfilled all righteousness.

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Oh Lord, I pray that we would be sober -minded about our sin and that we would mortify every known sin and that we would even search out the sins of omission, that we might walk in greater faithfulness and obedience to you as a privilege, as those people who have been loved by you.

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We ask these things in Jesus' name. Let us now continue our worship through the presentation of our tithes and offerings.

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Please stand and let us pray. Gracious God and Father, accept these gifts and with them our lives to be used in your service.

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Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray, amen. Now let us give glory to God through the singing of the

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Gloria Patri. The Lord be with you.

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Up your hearts. 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 give thanks to you, oh

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Holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God, because you sent your beloved

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Son to redeem us from sin and death 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, 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.

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Please be seated and let us pray.

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Almighty God, you are the creator and Lord of all things.

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You are the sovereign majesty whom we have offended. You are our most loving and merciful

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Father who has given your Son to reconcile us to yourself, who has ratified the

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New Testament and covenant of grace with his most precious blood and has instituted this holy sacrament to be celebrated in remembrance of him till his coming.

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Sanctify these, your creatures of bread and wine, which according to your institution and command we set apart for this holy use, that they may be sacramentally the body and blood of the

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Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. And the night in which he was portrayed, our

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Lord took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you.

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Likewise, after supper, he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to him saying, this is the new covenant in my blood.

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Whenever 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.

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We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.

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We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same

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Lord who always shows mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear

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Son, Jesus Christ, and the drink of his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body 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 is sacrificed for us. The gifts of God for the people of God.

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Let us make this commitment together. Almighty and everliving God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood, your

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Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your

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Son and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And oh Lord, grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted in our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in the faith which is at work in every good deed.

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Now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our

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Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, the honor and glory, now and forever.

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Amen. Please stand. Pastor Breno has reminded us in reviewing the blessings that God gives us.

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This is the summary thereof. Receive the blessing of God. The Lord bless you and keep you.

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The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.