Automated Transcript

The thing I love about technology is it always works. Oh, we are in revelation, chapter 11 and 12 today, revelation chapter 11 and chapter 12, we just have a little bit to finish in chapter 11,

and then we will proceed into chapter 12. Let’s begin with a word of prayer, our gracious father in heaven. We come before you grateful for the blessings. You showered upon us on a daily basis, grateful for all that you do for us in good times, and in hard times, grateful for your love and your care, your concern, your loving kindness.

That is granted to us that though we do not deserve it. You have bestowed upon humanity, and we are so grateful for it. We’re grateful most, especially for your son who came and died on the cross for our sins. The lamb that was slain, and yet is standing before the throne. The one who conquers the one who is victorious, the one who will sit on his throne and who rains Lord,

we are grateful for all the many things that you’ve granted to us inside of the word of God. And inside this book we refer to as the Bible, and we’re especially grateful for the book of revelation and the hope and the encouragement that it grants to us. And the reminder that no matter what comes, no matter the struggles in this country or any country that’s come before,

there is one who’s on the throne and there is one kingdom that is eternal and none other is, and that is Christians. We are citizens of the kingdom of God. We pray for all the nations throughout the world, and especially the nation in which we live, that they might make, right choices, that they might do, things that are in accordance with your will.

They might accomplish those things that Lao for Your gospel to be spread to a greater degree throughout the world. All this we pray in jesus’ name. Amen.<inaudible> Revelation, chapter 10. We began a pause, an interlude as the sixth trumpet had sounded. We talked about the fact that there’s the, the seven seals and inside of the seventh seal are seven trumpets.

And the first six trumpets will be, will sound in chapters eight and nine. But then as the sixth trumpet concludes, and that second woe, remember there’s, there’s two woes or there’s, there’s three woes in the last three trumpets, one woe in each trumpet. And as that second trumpet sounds, and it concludes, then there’s another pause, a pause to remind the Christians that they are going to make it through this,

that God is on their side. That Christ is on the throne and he is going to rule and he will avenge the persecution that is coming upon them. As we talked about the fact that at the time of the writing, the persecution, isn’t immediate, it’s about to come back up. The beast is about to come back up. And so God is telling them what is remember chapter one verse 19,

John was supposed to write what is and what has come before and what is about to come. Okay? So God is connecting what he’s told them in the old Testament to what is currently the state of things and what is about to happen in all these things he says must shortly come to pass. I believe I, I can honestly say I grew up with a,

with a mindset that revelation was about the end of time. And it’s just not the more you study it. The more you pay attention to it, the more you just insist on taking John at his own statements, that the things which come the, the things that are going, that are written in this book must shortly come to pass. These are things which shall come quickly.

He says, these are things which are near are at hand. You know, when Jesus and the apostles went around, preaching and teaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. They didn’t mean 3000 years from now. They didn’t mean 2000 years from now. They didn’t mean a hundred years from now. They were preaching it because it was at hand.

And John says, these things are at hand. They must shortly come to pass. Now that doesn’t mean that every word in every detail in every thing is that, but the message of the book is about things that must shortly come to pass. Now we mentioned in chapter 11 on Wednesday night, that there were a couple of things we’ve wanted to spend a little bit of time on this morning for clarification and clarity sake.

And one of those is the city that is mentioned in verse eight in this interlude, we first have the first kind of interlude is in chapter 10 where the mighty angel is standing. He’s got one foot on the sea and one foot on the land. He’s he has authority over both. That’s the idea there. And he has in his hand, a little book and John is told to take the little book and to eat the book.

And it’s sweet as honey when he tastes it in his mouth, but in his belly, it’s bitter. And the message is this the same message of Ezekiel chapter two in chapter three, where the same type of vision is seen, you’re going to prophesize and your prophecy originates with God. But your message is not a good message. Your message is a message of judgment.

It’s bitter. Okay. So then chapter 11 opens and we see two witnesses there. These two witnesses come from, at least the imagery comes from Zechariah chapter four, and the two witnesses are two olive trees and two lampstands. Now in chapter four of Zechariah, Zechariah makes it clear that each lampstand has seven lamps. Okay? So there’s seven lamps and two lamps,

seven lamps on each lampstand in two lampstands into olive trees. Zachariah also gives us the clarity and the vision in that the olive trees have as it were their, their branches hanging into the, the lamp bowls are the bowls of the lampstands. And they’re continually putting oil, the ideas eternal light, as long as the trees produce, as long as the tree stand,

the lampstands remain burning. And the picture there is the revelation of God and the anointed ones who were in Zechariah’s day<inaudible> and Joshua, the high priest and the ruling individual, okay. That imagery is brought over here to demonstrate to the people of God you, the church that’s the remember Jesus has already promised them chapter two, chapter three, chapter one,

you are a kingdom of priests. You are Kings who will rule. He’s already told and identified who the Kings and the priests are. That are the anointed ones in this day in time. And they’re Christians, the church. So he’s telling the church, you, as the anointed ones, you will be those who speak. You will be those who prophesied.

You will be those who torment those on the earth with the word of God. And you will be those who will be killed for your testimony. We’re going to see that over in chapter 12, but the message is you might appear to die. It might look like the church’s gone. It might look like the beast is one. It might look like by the way,

this is the first time we really read of the beast coming up and persecuting the church. Okay. He may look like you’re dead. You’re, you’re, you’re lying in the streets and they’re having a throwing a party and they’re sending gifts to one another and they’re letting your bodies lay there in the street. And it looks like the church is going to get decimated until God tells the church to rise or again,

to be resurrected after three and a half days. After a period of time, God says, no, no, no, no, no, you didn’t defeat my church. I’m still in charge because your persecution is only a partial, a half of a seven. It is incomplete. It is derived authority. It is not God’s authority. Okay? Then verse seven,

when they finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city. There are a number of references using that phrase, the great city in the book of revelation. And I firmly believe they have referenced to the same city every time.

And it’s not Jerusalem. Now this passage would make you think, Oh, we’re talking about Jerusalem. Here’s why the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt. And this is the phrase that causes most people to think, okay, we’re talking about Jerusalem where also our Lord was crucified. Okay. Oh, that sounds like Jerusalem. Right? The idea there is the one that the city that caused the Lord to be crucified.

Okay. When it comes down to it in the time of Christ, when the high priests and the elders and the chief priests and the Pharisees and the scribes all wanted to kill Christ, did they have the authority to know who did they have to convince to kill Christ? Did they take him to Herod? No. Who are alone in the land of Israel,

had the authority in Jesus’s day to put anyone to death. Pilot who’s derived authority came from Rome, turn to acts chapter two and acts chapter two. You find the right verse here. I wrote it down in acts chapter two, beginning in verse 22 men of Israel. Hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, Amana tested by God, to you by miracles,

wonders and signs, which God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves also know him, notice this being delivered by the determined purpose. And for knowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death whom God raised up having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it for David says,

I foresaw the Lord always before my face four. He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart rejoiced and my tongue was made gland. Moreover, my flesh will also rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life.

You will make me full of joy in your presence. Now also go over to Psalm chapter two. This Psalm is a messianic Psalm about the crucifixion and about the resurrection in Psalm chapter two, it begins with these words, why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing. The Kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying,

let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. He shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure. Yet I have set my King on my Holy Hill of Zion in revelation, the great city. We saw it over in chapter 17.

We’re going to see another place as the great city refers to a city sitting on seven Hills. Well, that’s not Jerusalem. That’s Rome. So the picture here is in the description of the crucified. Christ is a picture of Rome. You’re seeing Rome from three different aspects, okay? Pay attention to this because it will make more sense as we go later on and examine Rome again,

as it’s seen in the BESE, we’re looking at Rome, not in its physical sense, but in its spiritual sense, when you get the picture of Saddam, what was Saddam known for it’s sin? It’s sin specifically in the sexual matters that it had violated God’s word, but also in its way that it treated people, both of those things. It’s,

it’s lack of hospitality. It’s willingness to abuse people and it’s sexual immorality. All three of those are the things throughout scripture that are accused against Saddam and Rome is pictured as the seductress Rome is pictured as the one who’s guilty of the sexual and morality. Rome is pictured as the one who has committed all these great sins. So you see Rome in the spiritual aspect of her sin,

her worldly or seductive power, but then you have Egypt. The second name that is given to Rome, Saddam, the worldly, seductive power Egypt. What is Egypt known for throughout scripture? Many gods, but in relationship to Israel, say what? Power control captivity. Okay. So in Egypt you have the civil persecution power. Egypt had control as the slave owner of Israel,

as the captor of Israel, they had power to bring about persecution and they did. Okay. So you’ve got the civil persecuting power, which you’re also going to see in the beast. There’s three BS. All three of them described Rome. They look at Rome from three different perspectives, and it’s the same perspectives that Egypt, Saddam, and the one or the city where our Lord was crucified,

looked at it. What is Jerusalem? Now here’s where I want us to pay attention. The city where our Lord was crucified is Jerusalem, but the great city isn’t, but the great city isn’t Saddam and the great city isn’t Egypt, either Jerusalem is here referenced as a, as an spiritual example of Rome. And in the fact that Christ was crucified on the cross in Jerusalem,

what does Jerusalem stand for? Think about it for a moment. They saw his miracles, they heard his prophecies. They witness his testimony. They heard God speak from heaven and declare him to be his son. They heard John declare him to be God’s son and they killed him anyway. And they claimed to do it in the name of their religion because they took him to pilot and said,

when pilot asked, what is he guilty of? He has Blass themed. Our God Jerusalem here is not the great city. Jerusalem is a picture of perverted religion, which also describes Rome. So Jerusalem gives you perverted religion, which is also one of the beasts. You’re going to see one of the beasts rise up and his whole power is to pervert religion.

You’re going to see another beast rise up. And he’s the seducer it’s the, the, the, seductress the, the prostitute scene in chapter 17. She’s the one who rides the great beast and seduces all the world. And you’re gonna see another beast rise up. And he is the civil economic persecuting power. So you’ve got three BS that describe three aspects of Rome.

You’ve got three cities here that all described for three aspects of Rome. Okay? The great city is Rome. And so here in this passage, the great city is where one last thing I should mention if we take that, the great city is Rome. There’s one interesting fact about Jerusalem. The Romans never persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem. The Jews persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem,

all the living long day, but even in the book of acts, who is it that saves Paul from the hand of the Jews. The Romans remember Paul’s about to be killed by the Jews. And the Roman Centurion comes in and he extracts him out of their hands. And then he keeps him out of their hands. And then he takes him to Rome.

Rome was not a persecuting power against the Christians in Jerusalem. So the great cities, not Jerusalem. Alright, so I’m just wanting to make, kind of make all those points there. And then let’s, let’s move on. Verse 14, we come to the end of the second woe reread verse 14. The second wall was passed behold. The third woe is coming quickly.

Then the seventh angel sounded, all right, so we’ve, we’ve ended the sixth angel we’ve ended the interlude. Now we’re into the seventh angel seven angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom of this world has become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever now where we’ve got to be careful not to get off track.

Is this when you read about those in heaven, declaring with a loud voice, that God is now reigning, do not immediately make the assumption that God hasn’t been raining all this time, Huh? Who is the King of all the earth going all the way back to Israel in Egypt. And even before that, Moses has sent to Pharaoh to tell him your gods,

aren’t the gods of heaven and earth. Who did God say to tell Pharaoh that he was the, I am, that I am. And Pharaoh asked Moses, who is this Jehovah that I should listen to him. And the whole period through the plagues was to declare I’m the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Is there any point at which God stopped being the King of all the earth?

Is there any point at which God’s power was overcome by Satan’s power and God stopped ruling and the kingdoms of men in Daniel’s day when it looked like Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians were going to wipe the face of the planet over or wipe over the face of the planet. And here they are, and Nebuchadnezzar is here and now all his grander in all his glory and all the things that he’s accomplished.

And God says, you’re going to learn that Jehovah rules and the kingdoms of men and gives power to whosoever. He will. So when you read that the kingdoms of heaven have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever don’t immediately assume that means, well, the kingdom begins in the seventh trumpet because that’s what the pre-millennial is do.

Well, wait a minute. We’ve got to Wade through all these things and all this tribulation all this time, and then Christ will establish his kingdom. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The latest date you can possibly give for Christ sitting on the throne as King. It’s the day of Pentecost.

That’s the latest possible date? The earliest date, I think you could say with any assurance would be the date of his resurrection because Jesus says in Matthew chapter 28, verse 18 through 20, I have been given what all authority in heaven and earth kind of sounds like he’s on the throne already. Doesn’t it? Okay. So the latest that you can give is Pentecost for Christ reigning over his kingdom.

This declaration, isn’t the beginning of his kingdom. This is the acting and the action whereby he uses his authority to bring about justice on the kingdoms of the earth. All right, watch this. And the 24 elders who sat before God and on their Thrones, fell on him on their faces and worshiped God saying, we give you thanks. Oh Lord God almighty the one who is and who was,

and who is to come because you have taken your great power and rained. The nations were angry and your wrath has come the time of the dead that they should be judged. And that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. This declaration is not,

Oh, well, the kingdom has finally arrived. This declaration is the one who’s on the throne has finally brought about the judgment that he said was coming. He has used the power. He has to bring about judgment because remember when those saints in revelation, chapter five, we’re praying and crying out to God. How long, Oh Lord, how long,

how long until you bring justice upon those who persecute us and Christ says, you rest a little while, but you rest in assurance. And I’m paraphrasing here. You rest in assurance that I will bring judgment. And the seven seals were open, kind of looking forward to what was coming and telling what had been going on. And then the seventh seal was open and you had the seven trumpets and they were the warning shots.

They were the plagues. They were the listen, you better repent or final judgment against Rome is going to come. And they didn’t repent. And because they didn’t repent in the end of the sixth trumpet, God now says, and all those in heaven, declare it’s time judgment’s coming. He’s going to take his power and he’s going to rain and he’s going to judge and he’s going to reward those who are his saints.

Okay? It’s not a picture of the judgment day, not a picture of the final judgment. It’s a picture of the judgment in the context. We’re talking about all through here. This is almost in a sense, the 10th plague where God says you didn’t listen, you didn’t listen. And now you’re going to pay the ultimate price because you didn’t listen.

Okay? So verse 19, then the temple of God was opened in heaven. And the arch of his covenant was seen in his temple. And there were lightnings noises, thunderings and earthquakes and great hail. Just the picture of the culmination of all the plagues coming together. Again, this destruction coming against the nation, but one more time. So the seventh trumpet sounded,

but one more time, God’s going to tell his people, you’re going to go through the ringer. You’re going to get hurt during this. It’s not going to be easy, but I want to tell you about the dragon. I want to tell you about the beast. I want to tell you about Satan. And I want to tell you he’s a three time loser.

Okay? Chapter 12 is the devil is a three time loser. Okay? That’s the whole point of chapter 12, chapter 12 beginning verse one. Now a great sign appeared in heaven. Seventh trumpet sounded, praise goes up that God is going to rain. That God is going to bring judgment. And now there’s a sign that appears in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun,

with the moon under her feet and on her head, a Garland of 12 stars. Now what did we say? The number 12 stood for<inaudible> Authorized religion and the people of God. Okay. So she’s a Dorn as the people of God. She is the church. Okay. We’ll see that. As we go through here, then being with child,

she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. Okay. So we see the woman. She’s got the she’s clothed with the sun. The moon’s under her feet on her head is a Garland of 12 stars and she’s pregnant and she’s about to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven, behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven diadems on his head.

What are diadems crowns? Okay. He looks like he’s in charge. He’s got seven heads. He’s got 10 horns and all over his heads are crowns. He looks like he’s in charge. By the way, this is where we get the picture of, of the devil as, as red. Okay? Nowhere else in scripture stuff here that I know of at least,

but notice he’s not without power, not without real power. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. All right. Here’s a dragon that his tail is so great. And so sweeping it reaches up to heaven and knocks the stars down. Okay. In the, in the vision God’s showing you he’s got power,

but notice what we read by the way, could he take all the stores stars down? No, a third. What, what have we always said? A third is partial. He’s got limited power. Okay. He’d through his tail, drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman was ready to give birth,

to devour her child. As soon as it was born. You know, if I didn’t know how to interpret things in their context, I think there was a planned Parenthood. So here we are, she’s bound to give birth and the child or the dragon is sitting there waiting. As soon as she gives birth, he’s going to devour the child. He’s going to conquer the child.

Now in most Bibles, you will see the word child capitalized because it’s not going to be hard to figure out who the child is. Okay. And watch this prepared to devour the child. As soon as it was born, she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Now what child was ever born, whose inheritance was to rule all nations only one.

And it wasn’t Alexander the great, and it wasn’t anybody who was ruling in Rome. It was Christ. He said, well, wait a minute, Aaron, the church did not give birth to Christ. I beg to differ. Had there not been a need for the redemptive work of Christ. What do you have ever left heaven and taken on flesh all the way back in Genesis,

chapter three, our sin. It ma it’s clear in chapter three of Genesis, our sin and our need for redemption would cause the Christ to be born and woman would give birth to the Messiah. It’s a picture of the church in its redeemed state that could only be achieved through the birth of Christ and through not just his birth, but his reigning. Remember the context that we just had in chapter 11 was he’s reigning.

And now we’re seeing a picture of the devil, tried to stop him from ever raining, but what happens? So the devil’s there. He’s prepared, waiting for her to give birth. He’s going to devour the child as soon as it’s born. But wait, what happens? She bore a male child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to God.

And to his throne, the moment she gives birth, the child straight to heaven, and the devil misses his chance. First time loser. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days. Now we’re not gonna spend a whole lot of time talking about time, times and half a time and 1,260 days and 42 months,

because we talked about all that on Wednesday. They all mean this. The church is going. It is a state of time in which the church will be ultimately victorious, but will endure difficulty in the process. It is taken from Elijah’s three and a half years of drought, three and a half years of no rain where God delivered those who were his.

He provided for those who were his, but it wasn’t easy. And it wasn’t pleasant. Okay. So the first time loser, he tries to devour the baby. When the baby’s born, he doesn’t succeed. The child goes up to heaven and he’s on his throne. Reigning verse seven in the war and war broke out in heaven. Now you get this first scene is here’s a woman.

She’s got the moon under her feet. She’s clothed with the sun. She’s got stars on her head. And the moment she gives birth, the baby goes, the child male child goes up to heaven. And then the next moment, where are you at verse seven? You’re immediately in what place? Heaven. The devil tried to chase him down. Okay.

That’s what you get you get. He failed on the first attempt. So he followed him into heaven to go finish the job. Okay. Verse seven in war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought. So the dragon goes to heaven to try and still devour the child to try and stills,

keep him from reigning on his throne. But instead of being able to confront the child, he’s confronted with messengers, God’s messengers, he’s confronted with angels. He never gets near the child. He never gets near the Christ. He can’t touch the Christ. He can’t even get past Michael, by the way. Very interesting that the name Michael, if I’ve got it written down here and can find it,

let’s see. Say that again. He, who is like the Lord, you’ve got this picture in Michael of he who is like unto God or he who is like unto the Lord. The devil doesn’t get near Christ, but the one who’s like God goes and stands and fights and notice what happens. So they did not prevail nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, Oh wait, here we go. So the dragon is pictured as who? Satan, the devil, the deceiver. And so the great dragon, the old sir, the serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now, salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And some people say, well, this, this is what happened before the earth was ever formed. And before Satan was,

was on the earth and Tim did eat, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is what happens in the seventh trumpet. He’s the serpent of old, but this isn’t talking about his origin. This is talking about God saying, Satan, you stood here, accusing my people of wrong. You stood here accusing my people of guilt,

which is why you’ve been using your servants to kill them at now. You won’t stand before me, you know, all through the old Testament, we’ve read about times in book of job. And other times where Satan appears before the Lord, God says no more, no more. You’re outta here. Second time loser. Then those what happens. They overcame him by the blood.

Then I heard a loud voice saying verse 10 in heaven now, salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And they who’s the, they, the accused ones, the ones who are being accused, okay. Notice.

And they overcame him. Who’s the him, Satan, the dragon, the devil, the accusers, or the accused overcome the accuser. And how did they do it? Three ways, three ways that Christians destroy the power of Satan notice right here. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives unto death.

When a Christian clothed in the blood of the lamb covered in the blood of Christ, washed in the blood of the lamb, who declares the testimony of God. And won’t give it up, holds fast to the truth and won’t turn aside and then gives his life as a martyr because he will not turn aside. He will not bow his need of the beast.

He will not give in to Satan. He will not turn his back on Christ. He might be dead on this earth, but he wins. He overcomes the accuser, verse 12, therefore rejoice. So heavens and you who dwell in them woe to the inhabitants of the earth and to the sea for the devil has come down to you. Ah, this isn’t the end of time.

This isn’t the final judgment. Cause now the devil’s down on the earth, wrecking havoc on who Vietnam Evidence of the earth. Now we’ve said all along and having served the earth are Who centers. Why would the devil be wrecking havoc on sinners? Because that’s what sin does. He doesn’t care about them. He wants them to go to hell, just like he does.

He doesn’t care about them. And so wherever he is, he brings misery and anguish and pain and persecution. And it doesn’t matter who he does it to. He’ll always do it for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows that he has a short time. I’m going to read through verse 13 and verse 17, and then we’ll close.

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child, but the woman was given two wings of a great Eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth,

like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. By the way, that’s a picture of the red sea and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the red sea and Exodus chapter 15 and Moses, his song is they’re kind of brought into this so that the devil tries to act like a God destroy the woman with the power of the,

of water, but instead what happens, but the earth helped the woman And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. He tries to act like God, he doesn’t have that power. God always is in control and God will protect his people. That’s the assurance we’re given all through this. And the dragon was enraged with a woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Okay. So the message through chapter 12 and we’ll catch up on the questions on Wednesday. The message of chapter 12 is to the church. Again, you’re going to go through persecution at, you might die, but the moment you do, you win the moment you die, you win and I’ll always provide for you because the child is on the throne.

The Christ is on the throne and Satan’s a three time loser. Okay. That’s chapter 12<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> Good morning. Welcome to the Collierville Sunday morning services here at Collierville church Christ. It’s good to see each and every one of you. I see a few more of our regular members with us this morning. It’s great to see everyone of you.

And for those of you that are still able, unable to come out because of the COVID-19 and various things going on, please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers and we pray for each and every one of you every day and cannot wait for the day that you can return and worship our Lord with us here in his building on Sunday mornings and on Wednesday evenings announcements today,

if there are any visitors with us, we are glad that you took the opportunity to come and worship with us. We asked that you’d fill out a visitor’s card. If you did not pick up your Lord’s supper on the way in now, it’d be a good time to do that. Our sick, please keep Aaron in your thoughts and prayers. He is getting a little better.

He still has some pain here and there. They’re changing some medications, but he’s working through that slowly but surely and getting a little better each day, Joan Springer is still having her difficulties. So please keep Joan and your thoughts and prayers. Janet Jones is back at home now, and she’s going through a home therapy, physical therapy at home. So please keep Janet in your thoughts and prayers as she works through that,

because any of us have been through physical therapy, know what that’s like, that pain that they put you through to make you get better. Sometimes you make, you makes you wonder if it’s really worth it, but in the long run, it is Dorothy Wilson is still dealing with very high blood pressure issues. Please keep Dorothy and your thoughts and prayers. Sylvia’s a nerve block that she was going to have this past Friday has been rescheduled.

That’s now going to be on the 23rd of October. So continue to pray for Sylvia, Danny O’Neil that’s Tommy’s brother is still in st. Francis. He is slowly getting a little better and they are working on getting him off the ventilator. And Tommy said with all goes well, they should have him off the ventilator by the end of today, but it’s a slow process.

Getting him off that ventilators continued to pray for Danny and the entire O’Neill family. James Luna is having a lot of numbness in his hands and he will see a specialist on Thursday to see if they can determine what’s going on with him. So please pray for James Victoria Melton. Who’s a previous member here is hospitalized, and I am not going to be able to pronounce what this is that she has,

but it’s something to do with the fact that she’s pregnant and her baby is 32 weeks old and she may have to stay hospitalized until the baby is at least 37 weeks before they can go ahead and take an early delivery on that baby. So please keep Victoria Melton and your thoughts and prayers. Jenny Sanderson, sister-in-law Mary Joe Todaro has passed away. So please keep that entire family and your thoughts and prayers.

And we have a special request for Vincent to Darrow who’s Jenny’s brother. They were married for Vincent and Mary Jo were married for 49 years. And Vincent relied on her. Like you would not believe, you know, Mary Joel was his everything to her, to him. So please, please pray special prayers for Vincent. In this time of his loss,

he’s going to need all the help he can get to get through this other announcements. The 45th annual spiritual sword lectureship at get well, church of Christ is scheduled for October 18th through the 22nd. We have a flyer on the board out here, the Memphis school of preaching fifth, fifth annual world evangelism seminar is this Friday and Saturday, the 16th and 17th,

Gary Kali will be speaking and his sermon will be the second. The disciples second baptism that’s Friday at 9:00 PM on a nationwide gospel calling meeting and the flyer list in each one of the speakers and what the topic is, is on the table out there in the foyer. So please pick one of them up on your way out today for the man reminder that tomorrow night at 7:00 PM,

we’ll have our monthly business meeting. And if there’s anyone here that has anything that needs to be addressed, please put it on a sheet. I’ll draw on a bulletin board. So men can discuss that. And also reminder too, that early voting for the general election starts here. This coming Wednesday, the 16th and runs through Thursday, October 29th. So that’ll be here at church early voting our service.

This morning song leader will be Michael Dale opening prayer be Terry Sanderson. Lord’s supper will be Joel caisson. Sermon will be Erin coats are, and our closing prayer will be Tommy Lassiter. Thank you.<inaudible> Our opening song. This morning will be number 227 on Zions glorious summit On XY yarns glorious man. It’s de<inaudible> by blood. They him, their King and strains.

D I heard that song and Stroh too. I heard the song<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> shout victory.<inaudible> great.<inaudible> for the gray wow. Lasting<inaudible> rise and<inaudible> to<inaudible><inaudible> to<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> like me<inaudible> Oh my God. Oh, the<inaudible> God<inaudible> Oh, Oh, Oh, a song before our opening prayer will be number 800.

What a friend we have in Jesus. What a friend we have in GE is all our sins and griefs to back. Yeah.<inaudible> a very thing to God and pray. Yeah. Oh, a peace. We often fall this pain mean we<inaudible>. Oh, because we do<inaudible> eh, very thing to God and pray. Yeah. Ah, we try also<inaudible> is TRIBE<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> to the Lord and<inaudible><inaudible> we find a friends<inaudible> Oh,

Oh, so<inaudible> jeez.<inaudible> three. We<inaudible> to say goodbye to the Lord and pray. Yeah. We weak and heavy. Hey, calm bird with<inaudible><inaudible> refuge to get to the Lord. And<inaudible> do friends despise for<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> and his arms take. Yeah. And<inaudible> well find us all Right. A father who art in heaven.

We thank thee for this first day of the week and the opportunity to, we have to come together as your children to study your word. We pray that you would be with those that are sick and unable to be with us. We pray that you would comfort them and restore them for their health. If that’s the reason that they’re not here, we pray that they will soon be well enough to come back and be with us.

We pray that you would be with the teacher of the hour, that he may have a lesson prepared for us too, that we may understand. And it will help us to become strong with Christians. And that weak may spread the word in this community. We thank you for the opportunity that we have to be here and, and be with the, with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We pray that the things that we do here today will be accepted linear side, where you pray that you would be with the leaders of our country. At this time, we pray that the election will go in a way that will be placed into the on and that later we’ll look at you aware to help them and make decisions. And to make this a better country.

We pray that you would go with us now through the, for the exercises this day and forgive us when we do wrong in Christ’s name, we pray amen. Song to prepare our minds for the Lord. Supper will be number 364. Come share. We gather here in jesus’ name, his love is burning and a heart it’s like living flame for through the loving son.

No father makes us Swan. Come take up, bruh. Come drink. No cup. Come share the Lord. No one is a stranger. Hey,<inaudible> finding<inaudible>. He joins us. You. He breaks up bruh. The Lord who pours the cup is risen from a dad. No one. We love the<inaudible>.<inaudible> come take up bruh.

Come drink a cup. Come shit.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> angels. See, well, see the glory of our Lord Dan Kami King. Now we anticipate, Hey, no fees for which we wait, come take up bread, come drink a cup, come shit.<inaudible> This morning in order to help prepare our minds for the Lord. Supper will be reading from Isaiah chapter 53,

who has believed I report into him, whom is the arm of the Lord revealed where he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. And it root out of dry ground. He has no form to come then this. And when we shall see him, there’s no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected a man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him. Not surely. He had born our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did not esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes,

we are healed. We are like sheep that have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him, the iniquity of us all, but a spray. Dear God, our father in heaven. We come before you, as our minds, go back to the cross of Calvary and your son there. And the cruel death that he suffered,

bearing our sins there on the cross of Calvary. We’re mindful of that sacrifice that was made for each and every one of us for all of mankind father. As we look to this Memorial this morning, we pray that our hearts and minds will be centered upon him upon what his love for us and his willingness to give his life that we might have life eternal fathers.

We partake of this bread, which is representative of his body. We pray that we might examine ourselves and do so in a manner that would be worthy in Jesus name. Amen.<inaudible> We will now continue that reading. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet. He opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to slaughter and his sheep before her shearers is dumb.

So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation. He was cut out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, was he stricken and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich, he was in his death because he had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the precious pleasure of the Lord shall prosper. In his hand. He should see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justly justify many where he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore what I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spore with the strong, because he has poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bear the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. That is probably Father in heaven. As we continue to remember our savior and the love that he demonstrated for us,

remind of that precious blood, that flowed on Calvary, that we might have our sins forgiven. We are so grateful father for being able to be your children. And for this time and moment that we can remember our Lord and savior. And we pray father that we examine ourselves and do our best to serve and glorify you with our lives. We pray that this fruit of the vine,

which is representative of that blood, that we might partake in a way that will be acceptable and memory of him and Jesus. We pray. Amen. We prepare our minds to think about how blessed we are as a people and how much material wealth that we really do have. And we think about the scriptures as they teach us that of those that have much,

much shall be required. And it should be a blessing for each and every one of us, as we’ve thought about what we would give today, that we should remember the blessings that’s already been given to us, and that we’re willing to share those blessings to not only further the cause of the kingdom, the spreading of the gospel, but also to be benevolent to those that are in need and try to help those that need help.

They’re less fortunate than we are. And I know myself a lot of times, I fail to keep that in mind. And we always think about mainly I guess the church, which we should and the spreading of the gospel, but there are so many souls out there that really do need our help. And sometimes we might overlook them. So let’s think about that.

As we think about our contribution, let’s bow father in heaven, we are grateful for every blessing that we receive each and every day of our lives. Many of which we take for granted, we pray father that you forgive us for doing that and help us to appreciate every blessing that comes from the, we pray father, that we’ve purposed in our hearts today.

And given it great thought on what we would give back at this time that we would continue to contemplate all the blessings that we have and what we could do. If we put our minds to it, we pray father that our offering will be acceptable. And that we might not only further the kingdom, the work of the kingdom preaching and teaching your word,

but that we might also reach out to those that are in need. And those that are struggling with various things in life, we might help them in some way that they know that we truly do care about them and would help them with things that they need. And we have might have that opportunity to share the gospel with them, that they too might want to be a child of yours and be a part of this body in jesus’ name.

We pray amen song before the lesson will be number 290 shine. Jesus shine. If you can please stand for this song. Lord, the light of your love is shining in a man. It’s the dark nurse shining. Jeez, a snide of China upon us said a spree by the truth. You now bring us shame on me, shame on me.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> me.

Try me consume all my darkness.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> with grace and mercy.<inaudible><inaudible> You may be seated if you’d like to Mark number nine, 15, trust and obey for the invitation song. You can, if not, it’ll be up on the projector. Good morning. A number of us in recent days and months have had more doctor’s visits than we planned on.

And when you go in the first time, it’s generally for an evaluation to figure out what’s wrong. But every so often we go to a doctor for just a checkup, just a, what we call a physical, maybe annually, maybe more often than that. Maybe for some of us who were stubborn much often than that, We just, we go to just find out the state of things.

What are we doing? How’s everything working? Is it working? Is it working the way it’s supposed to be working? Can they maybe working better? Just a checkup. And sometimes you and me in our lives need to do a spiritual checkup. We need to examine ourselves. We’re called upon by Paul and the Holy spirit through Paul to examine ourselves on a regular basis.

As a matter of fact, we’re told that on the first day of every week, when we come together, part of what we do in the Lord’s supper is examine ourselves. We are to examine ourselves to see whether or not we are in the faith, but Jesus, in John chapter 12 would call upon those who were present to do a little self examination.

So we’re going to notice in our lesson this morning, the ending of John chapter 12. So I encourage you to open your Bibles will take the majority of our text or we’ll take our texts from that passage. Spend the majority of our time in that scripture, John chapter 12, beginning in verse 42, when you only have one usable arm, you drop a lot of things and I’m trying not to drop anything.

So John chapter 12 beginning in verse 42, nevertheless, among the rulers, many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him less. They should be put out of the synagogue. Now John is giving us the reason behind it. This, this, this isn’t, you know, ruler after ruler comes up and says, you know what I believe on you and does,

and says it publicly. I believe on you, but you know these Pharisees over here, man, they are a pain. And if I say anything publicly about this, they’re going to kick me out and say, no, this isn’t a public proclamation. This is the Holy spirit who knows the hearts and minds of men revealing to us behind the curtain what’s going on.

There are these rulers in Israel and it’s coming up on the final week of a life of Christ. It’s coming up on the final week, in the final time where Christ will be on the earth. And there are rulers in Israel who won’t confess him because of the fairs because they know what will happen, but it’s not just the Pharisees. And the text that follows in verse 44 through the end of the chapter is not about the Pharisees.

It’s not about what people do because of the people around them, having an influence on them. It’s not about what people do because there are people holding them back from doing it. It’s about what’s inside the end of verse or the end of verse 42 says less. They should be put out of the synagogue, verse 43 for, they loved the praise of men.

More than the praise of God. The Holy spirit examines these individuals, any, it goes ahead and tells you they had external forces that were working against them. They had people who were leveraging them and keeping them from doing what was right, because they had influence over them. But internally their main problem, the primary issue, and the reason why anyone had leverage over them was because they loved the praise of men.

More than the praise of God. They wanted to be in the synagogue because they were rulers. They wanted to be where the people were because they had influence. They wanted to be recognized. Then they wanted to be promoted. And they wanted to be those who were called, whose names were called before others. And because they loved the praise of men,

more than the praise of one who wasn’t going to necessarily give them influence who wasn’t going to necessarily give them position or prominence, but who would say on that day of judgment when they stood before him? Well done, thou good and faithful servant because they love the praise of men. More than the praise of God. They would not confess Christ. And so what follows is Jesus declaration that we need to examine ourselves.

He begins first in verse 44. Then Jesus cried out and said, he who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me the very first thing that Jesus cries out is about faith. The premise of this very situation is there are those who will not confess him. They know who he is, they know what he’s done. They know where he came from.

They know who he is and they will not confess his name because of the influence of those around them and because of their own selfish interests. And he says, look at your faith. He who believes in me believes not only in me, but in him who sent me, if you did nine, me, you deny him. When we examine ourselves spiritually,

we begin with our faith. What does our faith look like? What is our belief? And what is the state of our belief in second Corinthians chapter five in second Corinthians chapter five, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, a congregation that so often struggled with the difficulties of the world around it and the influence of the world around it. But he says in verse five,

now he who has prepared for us this very thing who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord for, we notice this statement, walk by faith and not by sight.<inaudible> We walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident.

Yes. Well-pleased rather to the absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Paul says, we’ve examined ourselves. We’ve looked at ourselves and we know we’re not walking by sight. We’re not walking by the things that we know to be true in this life. In other words, we’re not walking by the influence of man. We’re not walking by the wisdom of man.

We’re not walking in a certain way because of those who try to influence us one way or another, we are walking. According to revelation, we are walking. According to God’s word, we walk by faith, not a leap in the dark, not guesswork, not a hope in a, in a circumstance where maybe sometime this might be true. No,

we’re walking by the declared word of God and not our own wisdom. Their wisdom said, if we confess Christ will be put out of the synagogue and God’s wisdom says, so what, what are you willing to give up to be obedient to me? So we begin with our faith, but also notice in Romans chapter 10 and Romans chapter 10 and beginning in verse eight,

as Paul writes to the church at Rome, he says, he says, but what does it say? The word is near you. Now notice the context. The passage is talking about the word of God and its action in their lives. He says, well, what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart.

That is the word of faith, which we preach. That if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart, that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved for, with a heart. One believes on the righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. You know, that passage is important and it’s integral to our understanding of the position and the order of faith in view of baptism.

But so often we go to that passage and we’re only trying to get to the point that faith and confession come before baptism. And we ignore much of what that passage says about righteousness, salvation, and the word of God. It says that the word of God belongs in our heart in our mind. And that the word of God being in our mind ought to cause it to come out of our mouth.

They would not let the word of God come out of their mouth because there was a problem with their heart. There was a problem with their mind. So when we do a spiritual examination, a spiritual checkup, it begins first with our faith is our faith causing us to speak or our influences around us causing us to be silent. But then he goes on in John chapter 12 and he says,

he who believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And he who sees me, sees him, who sent me the second thing that we’re going to examine in our spiritual checkup is our eyesight. I will freely admit I’ve been blessed with good eyesight, but because of that, I’ve been negligent to go to the eye doctor.

I haven’t been to an eye doctor since I was seven years old, but I can still see. So, you know, but Jesus says your site is important. Your site is integral integral to your spiritual condition. And here’s why verse 46. I have come as a light into the world that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. He says,

can you see me? Can you see me? Do you have enough light in your life to see who I am? Because if you can see me, you can see him who sent me earlier on in this passage, back in John chapter 12, beginning in verse 31, be actually a little bit, get in verse 30, Jesus answered and said,

this voice did not come because of me. But for your sake now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cashed out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all peoples unto me under myself, this, he said, signifying, by what death, he should die. The people answered him.

We have heard that the law, excuse me, from the law that the Christ remains forever. And how can you say the son of man must be lifted up? Who is the son of man? Then Jesus said to them a little while longer, the light is with you while you walk or excuse me while you have the light less. Let me try one more time.

See if I can read the words on the page fairly. I do need to go to the eye doctor a little while longer. The light is with you walk while you have the light less darkness overtake you. He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going while you have the light, because believe in the light that you may become sons of light.

These things, Jesus spoke and departed and was hidden from them. Jesus is in their presence. Jesus declares that he would be lifted up. Jesus declares his crucifixion, Jesus declares. What would happen as a result of his crucifixion? And they say, Oh, we’ve read the old Testament. The Messiah who comes and sits on the throne reigns forever. How can you say the son of man will be lifted up?

They understood what he meant. They understood what he said. When he said the son of man would be lifted up. They knew he was talking about dying. And they said, we’ve read the old Testament. That can’t possibly be true if you’re the Messiah. But then Jesus said beginning in verse 37. But although he had done so many signs before them,

they did not believe in him that the word of Isaiah, the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke Lord, who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed. Therefore they could not believe because Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts less. They should see with their eyes less. They should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them.

These things I say is said, when he saw his glory and spoke of him, you see Isaiah said, Oh, you’ve got highs, but you won’t use them to see you’ll stay blinded. You’ve got ears, but you won’t hear, you have a heart that could understand, but you won’t let it because had fit did because if it did, I’d heal you,

but that would require you to open your eyes. That would require you to believe with your heart. Had they wouldn’t. So we examine our faith and we examine our eyes. Whether or not they let any light in. But then we also examine our hearing. Jesus said, if anyone hears my words and does not believe I do not judge him now that might be easy to stop right there and say,

see, alright, no judgment. It’s okay. Believe what you want to, nobody’s going to judge you. That’s not what Jesus said. He says, I do not judge him for, I did not come to the world to judge the world, but to save the world, Jesus said, I’m not here to judge you. I’m not here to be the judge who brings about your judgment,

who brings about your, the justice that you ought to get? Because you’re a sinner for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. Jesus said, I’m not here to judge the world. I’m here to save the world. But he said, he who rejects me and does not receive my words has that.

Which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. Jesus said, I didn’t come to this earth. I didn’t give up heaven. I didn’t take on flesh. I didn’t come to this earth to judge you, but the word that I’ve spoken remains forever. The word that I’ve spoken, whether you’re willing to hear it and obey it or where you’re willing to hear it and dismiss it will judge you on the final day,

we examine our ears. Are they open to the word of God? Or do they hear the word of God and dismiss what they don’t want to hear and accept only what sounds good because that’s what these people were doing. If Jesus said something they agreed with, they were fine. But the moment he started declaring himself to be the son of God. The moment he started declaring himself to be the Messiah,

the Mullen, he started declaring himself to be someone who had authority over them. They refuse to hear our faith, our eyes, our ears, but he’s not done our speech. We go through this spiritual checkup, we’ve got to examine our speech. We’ve got to examine what we say in verse 49. Jesus sets a standard. He says for, I have spoken or I have not spoken on my own authority.

He says, I’m going to judge you in the final day, but it won’t be me. It’ll be the words that I’ve spoken. But just in case you begin to argue with the words that I’ve spoken, you need to understand something. I haven’t spoken of my own authority. I didn’t come to this earth with my own authority to declare my own message,

to declare my own judgment. That in the final day you will be judged my mind words. He said, I have not spoken of myself or of my own authority, but the father who gave me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. Jesus said, my doctrine doesn’t belong to me. My word isn’t mine. The word that will judge you,

didn’t originate with me. It originated with the father. And in doing this and making this statement, Jesus sets a standard. What should we speak? Should we speak our own doctrine? Should we speak our own ideas? Should we speak our own opinions? Should we speak our own judgments? Or should we declare the word of God? Should we speak?

Not of our own authority, but of his, we examine our speech and Deuteronomy chapter 18 in view of both the hearing and the speaking. Moses sets an interesting standard in Deuteronomy chapter 18, beginning in verse 18, as he is declaring about the prophet that would come. He says in verse 18, I will raise up for them. A prophet like you,

God’s speaking through. Moses says, I will raise up a prophet like you Moses in their presence. He says, I will raise up for them. A prophet like you from among their brethren. And I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them. All that I command him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear my words,

which he speaks in my name, I will require it of him. God says, I’m going to judge. I’m going to raise up a prophet like you Moses. And they’re going to hear him. But some of them won’t accept what he says. And when they don’t, I’m going to judge because his words won’t be as old, but they will have come from me.

And so our speech as the church of Christ, as the body of Christ, as the bud bought bride of Christ, our speech, our doctrine, our proclamation Ought to always originate with him. We do not preach opinion. We do not preach that, which is coming from our own mouths or coming from some creed or coming from some Pope who claims to have the authority of Christ.

And doesn’t, it’s not coming from some head. It’s not coming from some regional doctrine comes from God. And if it doesn’t come from God, it has no business in this house. And I know, and I know that his commandment is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak just as the father has told me. So I speak fifth and final aspect of this checkup is how’s your life walk into the doctor’s office.

Maybe I should start that a little differently. The doctor walks into his office and there you are. And he begins to do the checkup. He checks your brain. Soso checks your eyes, not very responsive. Checks your hearing, not getting much checks your checks, your speech, not much. There then bothers to check whether or not you’re alive. Sometimes we judge ourselves by ourselves.

Paul uses that phrase to mean Christians sitting in a congregation, judging themselves against some other Christian in the congregation. Well, I’m better than so and so I’m doing, I do more than, and then Susie who sits down on the fourth row, I’ve been here for 41. Doesn’t matter. The question is, are you alive or dead? Jesus says that the commandments of God give life.

James says it a little differently. James says, show me your faith without your works. And I’ll show you my faith by my works. And that faith without works is dead. How’s your life? Does it look like someone who has faith in God who sees the Lord? And the one who sent him, who hears the word of God and responds to it?

Who accepts what he hears and obeys it, who not only hears, but speaks the word of God to those around him because he is faith. Isn’t dead, but alive. And those commandments that originate with the father that he obeys, that he acts out in his life are in his life producing everlasting life. Jesus came to give life. John chapter one,

John chapter one, as we begin this book that John gives this record of jesus’ life. He begins it with in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. And without him was nothing made that was made in him was life.

And the life was the light of men. See, we’re already right back to where we started faith and light and hearing the word of God. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe he was not that light,

but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, there’s your hearing.

But as many as received to him, received him to them. He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of men, but of God. Their life begins again. Their life begins with God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. John bore, witness of him and cried out saying this was he of whom. I said, he who comes after me is preferred before me for, he was before me and of his fullness. We have all received. And grace for grace for the law was given through Moses,

but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, he has declared him. John says that Jesus said John chapter 14, when Phillip said, Lord, show us the father. He said, Philip, have you been with me so long? And you do have not seen me when you’ve seen me.

You’ve seen the father. I encourage all of us to spend a little time this week with John chapter 12, verses 42 through 50 or 48 and ask ourselves what is our spiritual condition? And when we get the results of the checkup, where are we lacking? And what do we need to work on? You’re here this morning and you’re outside the body of Christ.

You do enter into Christ by being born. Again, you do enter into Christ as, as BJ made. So clear last week, you do enter into Christ by being born of water and of the spirit. Having believed that Jesus Christ is the son of God, willing to repent of your sins, willing to confess his name, willing to bow to his authority as he bowed to the authority of God.

But are you willing to do that? If you’re outside the body of Christ, you can put Christ on in baptism today. If you have need of the invitation, if you have need of responding to the invitation for any reason, good or bad, why not come together now as we stand in, as we sing, Hey, while we do is good,

he abides with us and with all trust and<inaudible> to be happy and jeez us, but to trust and<inaudible>, but we never can.<inaudible> for the<inaudible> and<inaudible><inaudible> and<inaudible> to be happy and jeez us, but to trust. And<inaudible> walk by, Hey, this, and Hey, what he says we will do where he sends we.

Well, never fear only trust. Oh, Hey.<inaudible> to be happy and jeez, us, but to trust. And<inaudible> The closing song will be number 736 to Christ. Be true to It’s been long. Oh man, be true. He needs<inaudible> and<inaudible> to<inaudible> to Christ the truth to cries me. Oh man, be true. He needs<inaudible> to stand against the powers of sin.<inaudible> to<inaudible> the Lord be true.

Would you bow with me? Our God and father in heaven. We’re indeed thankful for this beautiful first day of the week that you’ve allowed us to gather as your children and worship Dee and same price to your name, father. We are thankful for the work that Aaron and Michael do here. And father we’re thankful for their most loving and giving families that they brought with them,

by the way, thank you for the word that we’ve heard today. And we pray father that we can use that to be that shining light to those around us. And those that may be lost. Bring them to you while we pray that you’ll be with us and keep us safe and forgive us of our seniors. They say in jesus’ name, we pray.

JOHN – Revelation 9
The Fifth & Sixth Trumpets

1. What was fallen to the earth from heaven when the 5th Angel sounded?
   What is this one called in verse 11?  ____________________________
   What was given to him?  _____________________________________
   What did he do with it? ________________________ Revelation 9:1, 11 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What arose from the bottomless pit initially upon it being opened and what happened as a result? Revelation 9:2 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What came out of smoke and who were they commanded to torment?
   Revelation 9:3-5  ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. How is the torment described?
   What did it cause?
   What part of the body of the locusts caused the torment? Revelation 9:5-6, 10 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Who is the king of the locusts, what does his name in Greek and Hebrew mean? Revelation 9:11 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. 13-15 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. John sees an army of horsemen, what is the size of the army? Revelation 9:16
   ________________________________________________________________
8. What three plagues kill 1/3 of mankind? Revelation 9:17-18
   ________________________________________________________________
9. Did this partial judgment, this warning, cause the rest of mankind to repent? Revelation 9:20-21 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Automated Transcript

<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> I think I got it. Thank you. Well, I’ll tell the people online again. Thank you for being patient. We’re getting there. Uh, we are in the book of revelation and we noticed chapter eight.

We’re going to go into chapter nine this morning, and we are in the midst of the seals and the trumpets. Uh, the seventh seal. We talked about this, um, last week inside the seventh seal, when the seventh seal is opened inside that seal, John sees seven angels. Those seven angels are given seven trumpets. We mentioned that the book of revelation in the majority of its,

uh, material is broken up into the seven seals beginning in chapter six, that seventh seal opens up and inside the seventh seal are seven trumpets inside the seventh trumpet. There are seven more angels with seven bowls. And what you have here is you have the seals really looking forward to kind of setting the setting. The example of what’s going to happen. Here’s initially the first seal is open.

Christ is going out and he’s conquering he’s victorious, but then comes persecution and you have the seven sore judgments of God brought upon, uh, those who are on the earth. And, uh, that’s in seal two, three, and four, but then you see the fifth seal opened and you have the saints. Those who have died for the testimony of Christ,

those who have been killed because they were Christians and they’re Bo they’re below the altar. They’re beneath the altar of God and they’re crying out how, Oh Lord, how long until you bring judgment upon those who are persecuting us, they’re told to rest for a little while. They’re given white robes and they’re essentially told the idea of it is just wait, wait and see.

Because the judgment on those who are pursing persecuting, you is coming. Then the sixth seal is opened up and in the sixth seal, you see judgment begin to happen. This sixth seal is kind of a forecast of what’s going to come in the rest of rest of the book, starting with the seventh seal, but in the sixth seal, there’s an important question asked,

and that is who shall be able to stand in the day of the wrath of the one on the throne and of the lamb. Chapter seven is a break in the, the thought line in order to answer that question. So before the seventh seal is opened 144,000 on the earth are sealed with the Mark of God. Having been sealed with the Mark of God.

They are the ones who are able to stand in the day of the judgment of the, of the wrath of the lamb and of the one on the throne and coming out of the tribulation, out of the judgment, having gone through that and been found worthy, been found faithful. They come through on the other side and the picture of them on the other side of the tribulation,

the judgment, the, the things that are coming is an innumerable quantity in heaven, praising God. And they’re not, they’re not in shambles. They’re not like a routed army. They’re not wounded. And, and in despair, they come through it and there’s poems in their hands. And it’s a picture of the feast of Tabernacles. And everyone is happy.

Why? Because yeah, they were found faithful. They were marked with the Mark of God. They came through the judgment, not say they didn’t suffer. It doesn’t mean that they didn’t endure hard times when all this was going on. It meant they came through it and they were found worthy to, uh, have a presence with God and the lamb.

So then chapter eight opens and the seventh seal is open. And instead of an immediate action, you have silence for half an hour. There’s a period of silence. Everyone’s attention is, is clearly focused on what’s going to happen. And then you see the angel who has standby, who stands before God and to them were given seven trumpets. So the seven trumpets are delivered to the seven angels and they begin to sound those trumpets with each trumpet,

you have a partial judgment. The trumpets are partial judgments. Everything that you see here is going to be done in a, in a fraction of the whole. So a fraction of the trees are, are affected. A fraction of the sea is affected. If this is partial judgment, this is a little bit being effected to warn those who are on the earth to repent.

So the first trumpet is, uh, sounds. And, uh, you see there in verse seven, the first trumpet sounded and hail and fire followed mingled with blood. And they were thrown to the earth and a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up. So as you go through the trumpets, you’re going to get a picture of the plagues all throughout the trumpets.

You’ve got kind of a knowledge and analogy to the book of Exodus, the plagues and the events that happened in history. There here’s the point we need to make sure and remember, these are visions. Exodus happened literally physically. We’re using the language of a physical historical event to tell about an event that’s going to occur. That’s not going to happen in a physical historical sense in the sense of it being a plague where a third is,

is killed or a plague where, where a third of the trees are damaged and all the grass. I mean, all the grass in the entire Roman empire, didn’t burn up one day, okay? This is, God’s saying just like I did it to Egypt. I’m doing it to you, but he’s giving them an opportunity to repent. And we’re going to see that at the end of chapter nine.

So as we go through this, let’s go through the questions from chapter eight and we’ll kind of continue summarizing the contents of chapter eight and the first four trumpets as we go through chapter eight, verse one, question one. What happened in heaven? When the seventh seal was opened Silence, okay. For half an hour inside the seventh seal, what was given to the seven angels,

seven trumpets? What did the angel with the golden sensor and much incense offer up on the golden altar before God, The prayers of the saints are offered up by the angel now. So the seven angels are given seven trumpets, but then they’re told, wait a minute, something else comes first. The angel comes forward and takes the prayers of the saints.

And those prayers of the saints are offered up before God with incense. And then something else occurs after the offering of the incense. What did the angel do with fire from the altar? Alright. He took the, uh, the sector and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it down to the earth. What you’re seeing is the prayers of the saints go up and God answers those prayers.

Okay. So keep, keep that occurrence together with what we saw in the fifth seal, where the prayers of the saints go up and they’re told to wait, now there, now you’re seeing, waiting is done. Judgment is coming. Okay. What happened? Because of the fire from the sensor. Okay. Noises, thunderings lightenings and earthquakes, and you go back into the old Testament prophets.

And those four things are used over and over and over to speak of the fall of a nation. Okay. So there’s, this is an impending action. This is what’s coming before these trumpets begin to sound, God keeps doing this in, in cycles. He tells you what’s coming and then you get what’s coming. And then he warns you as you’re getting what’s coming,

you need to repent, or you’re going to get the full measure of what’s coming and they don’t repent. So, uh, let’s see, what question was that? Um, what did the seven angels do? Or seven angels with the seven trumpets do prepared to sound when, when the, uh, Saint’s prayers are answered, then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to sound,

uh, after the offering, after off, Nope. Nope. I’m in the wrong spot. I gotta keep track of where I’m at. What came upon the earth when the first trumpet sounded hail and fire mingled with blood, and that hearkens back to the plague of hail. Because when you read about the plague of hail there in the book of Exodus,

Exodus chapter nine, it specifically says when the event occurs that it was hail mixed with fire, you also have the notion of blood there, which has to do with a number of the plagues, but then, uh, what was affected by the first sounding, the first trumpet, third of the trees and all the graphs. All right. What came upon the earth when the second trumpet sounded?

All right. A great mountain burning with fire, um, mountains quite often symbolized in the old Testament nations. So you’ve got a burning mountain cast down on the earth. All right. What is affected by the second trumpet? Alright. Third part of the sea became blood. Where have we seen water become blood and the plagues. All right. So what came upon the earth?

When the third trumpet sounded all right, a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch and it fell on the third of what? Alright. Third of the rivers and on the Springs of water, notice the contrast before you had the great mountain with which affected the seas, the seas are made up of what kind of water, salt water. Now you’ve got something that affects the freshwater.

Okay. Just, you’re just getting this, this idea here of first. We’re affecting the oceans, the seas, but the seas weren’t used to, to, for people to drink from what were they used for transportation, the economy they’re used to move and make a nation profitable. The nation’s profitability is, is in decline. We’ve not seen that in America lately.

Have we shut everything? Shut transportation. Now what happens? Everything starts going down. Alright, but Rome, especially without the sea travel in Rome, you have a significant loss because all of the major part of its power came from its access to the sea. All right. But then you now have the fresh water. This is what people live off of.

This is what makes things grow. This is what sustains your flocks, your herds, your animals, your, your, your, your people. Okay. Um, so the third are Siri. The great star fell from heaven. What was the name of the star? Wormwood. Okay. This is a word that is referenced in the old Testament by a number of profits.

And it has a meaning like most names in the Bible that the name has, has a connotation to it. And it’s bitterness. Uh, you have wormwood and Gaul referenced together in the old Testament. And the idea is that which could be done, what could be done to water to make it bitter and undrinkable. And even to a degree poisonous, it,

it would, you drank this water mixed with gall mixed with this become bitter. You die. What happened to the Israelites? When they came in, I think it’s Exodus chapter 17 or 18. They come to the waters of the location that would later be known as Marah they try to drink of the water. And what do they find out? It’s bitter.

They can’t drink it. Okay. It would, it would affect them in a negative way, so they can’t drink it. So you begin to grumble and complain. What does God do? Okay. So God changes the bitter water to sweet. Well, if God has the power to go one direction, he’s got the power to go the other direction.

So, okay. So you’re still, you’re just seeing images from Exodus over and over and over again. God’s saying I’m affecting a third of this and a third of this. What was affected by the star? Paul wormwood? Yes. All right. Third, third part of the water became bitter. And what happened to many men? All right. They died from it.

Okay. You, you, you have a lack of what’s necessary to sustain life, then verse 12. Uh, our next question, a third of what things were affected when the fourth trumpet sounded sun, moon and stars. Okay. Here are the things that give light. Here are the things that, you know, differentiate days and nights. Now,

there, there’s not a point in history. I’m going to keep going back to this because we need to not miss it, because this is where people go haywire with the book of revelation. There wasn’t a part a time in the Roman empire, where everybody looked up and suddenly a third of the stars were just missing from the sky. And a third of the sun just disappeared.

Or a third of the moon was just gone. It’s that’s not what you’re supposed to be getting from this, but here’s one of the things to remember about Exodus, all the plagues in Exodus confronted not only the people and their lives, but their deities gods point all throughout the plagues were you worship the frogs. You worship the river, you worship the sun,

you worship the moon. You, you worship all these things, but I’m the one you should be worshiping. Well, now in the fourth trumpet, a third of the sun, which they worshiped was struck a third of the moon, which they worshiped was struck a third of the stars, which they worshiped were struck. So that a third of them were darken.

A third of the day, did not shine. And likewise, the night and I looked and I heard all, I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. To the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blast of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound to whom was a triple world pronounced by an angel,

flying through heaven. Okay. He says, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. To who though? The, uh, is that what you said? Okay. I thought you said that the heavens and the earth, the inhabitants of the earth, um, in the King, James, I think you, you have it, or maybe it’s the ASV. You have the phrase,

those who dwell upon the earth. Okay. And when you go look up that phrase in the entire book of revelation, every single time, the inhabitants of the earth is found in the new King. James. Those who dwell on the earth is found every single time. Here’s what you need to know. It’s talking about the wicked on the earth that is not ever in the book of revelation all the way through it is never a reference to Christians.

It is always a reference to those who are wicked, those who and think about the connotation, those whose dwelling place is this earth. What do we read about Abraham? What kind of life did he live? He lived a faithful life, but he was according to the book of Hebrew, Hebrews. He was a, what Sojourner. He looked for a city that wasn’t made with hands.

He looked for a habitation of dwelling place that wasn’t on this earth, his home wasn’t here. And neither is any of ours. Those who dwell on the earth carries with it. A connotation of those who think this life is the most important thing. And those who dwell on the earth are being pronounced against them is being pronounced three woes, those three woes correspond with the last three trumpets.

When would the woes take place When the trumpet sound? Okay, so let’s get into chapter nine, But not all the ships. Yes. Yes. So, so with, uh, with question seven, then the second angel sounded, and I think I actually skipped over that one as we were going through it, something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood.

And a third of the living creatures in the seed died and a third of the ships were destroyed. Okay. So again, we’re not going back to the Roman empire and going, when did a third of all the ships in the, in the, in the nation just end up destroyed. I mean, we’re not looking for a monsoon. We’re not looking for,

for a hurricane or a, or a natural event or a volcano that occurred that a third of all the ships just disappeared. We’re seeing their economy struck their transportation is struck and God is bringing about his judgment in a partial way to get them to repent. Okay. So all, all through this, you’re dealing with vision elements. You’re dealing with John sees a third as if this may be a good way to visualize this.

If you were going to play a board game and you can see, I mean, you know, if it were real life, you’d be one person and you wouldn’t be able to see the whole board, but you’re not. You’re, you’re seeing the board. You’re, you’re playing a game. And if a third of one, one person’s pieces are all wiped off the board,

you see it happen. If it were real life, it may look like something different, but you’re playing the game. John or John is seeing a vision and he sees as it were here’s all of Rome’s ships and all of their sea moving vessels and all of the sea. And he sees a third of it just wiped off the board. Okay. That’s the picture Doesn’t mean you go back to history and you look for one event where like in Egypt,

a third of everything is affected. Okay. Chapter nine, then the fifth angel sounded, okay. No chapter divisions when John wrote it for angel sounded and then the wo is pronounced. And then the fifth angel sounded a and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. There is a key difference between verse 10 and verse chapter nine, verse one,

chapter eight, verse 10, and a great star fells from heaven. John watches the trajectory of the star and it falls from heaven as he’s watching it. That is not the language of chapter nine. Verse one, chapter nine, verse one, there is a star that was all ready, fallen from heaven. This is a past tense reference. This angel,

why do I say angel bill back to chapter one? And in his hand were seven stars that were the seven angels of the seven churches. Okay. Remember everything in revelation has an angel basically. And so this, this is, this is a representative, but this is an angel. This is a star that has in the past. Not at that moment has in the past fallen from heaven.

That’s a key thought as we go through this, the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth, to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And we’re not going to spend a whole lot of time surmising what the bottomless pit is because we don’t need to it’s right here in the text. It is the source of which all the things that are about to come out,

come from, and we’re going to get a great idea of what that means. Okay. It is not a literal bottom lip. It nor is it really intended to be helm, okay, this is a place of darkness. This is a pit. This is a source of what is about to come up. And what you’re going to see coming up is sin.

When you see the things arising out of the bottomless pit, this is a source of a degradation. This is a source of infection in a, in a, in a spiritual sense. This is the source of all that’s bad in the Roman empire and is destroying the Roman empire from inside. The fifth trumpet is internal decay within the nation. God uses a nation’s own internal decay to bring it down,

go read anything you want to about the history of the Roman empire. Did Rome fall from the outside, from conquerors, from without, or from inside inside, but they dealt with both constantly. You know, we, we, I love it when someone on the news or in politics says, we’ve never seen a time where the attitudes of politicians and the rhetoric is as bad as it is.

And I’m like, you don’t need to go read history. You don’t have a clue. One of the things they kept track of with different emperors was how many of the senators in Rome did they execute while they were in power? I mean, like we’re sitting, waiting to find out how many people are going to get voted out. And if there’s going to be a,

I love this, a, a, uh, a free and, and, uh, and peaceful transfer of power. You know, there’s a reason why a peaceful transfer of power in America was such a main principle of what the founders set up in our country is because they watched Europe do what Europe did for centuries. Somebody else wanted power, so they can kill off the guy before him.

Somebody did like what this group over here was doing, saying, kill a bunch of them off. And then, well, they do, you know, this was over and over and over again. We just, we just have a, a news media that panics and everything. And I think it’s just simply because of ratings, but here we are.

And this one comes up from, uh, or is fallen from heaven to the earth. And he’s given the keys to the bottomless pit and he opened the bottomless pit and what comes out, but smoke, uh, arose out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

Then out of the smoke locus came upon the earth and to them was given power. As the scorpions of the earth have power. Anybody who’s watched the news in the last month or so has seen footage of the West coast. And when you start getting a fire, that’s burning, that’s out of control. And you start seeing the smoke is sending to it.

Eventually you get to the point where you don’t see the sky anymore. You don’t see the sun, right? You don’t see the sun set. You don’t see the stars you, because all you see is smoke. That’s the picture. You’re walking through a haze of pollution and not pollution made by, by carbon emitting. No, no, no. Sin.

When sin takes over a nation, it can no longer see one day from another. It can no longer see the light that could guide it through its hard times, because sin has a choke hold on. That nation. Sin has a polluting and corrupting influence on the mind. Those who are in the depths of sin often, can’t tell that that’s where they are,

but notice the effect of it. So he, the, the angel or the, the star that’s fallen from heaven, opens the bottomless and outcomes. The smoke that arises out of the pit, then out of the smoke come locus. Where have we seen locusts plagues of Exodus? We haven’t left off the plagues just cause we’re in chapter nine, we’re still with the plagues,

but these locusts are a little different. Um, I wish we did have the PowerPoint up here. See, it’s not in that one. Nevermind. There’s a picture of, and I’ll have to show it to you next, uh, on Wednesday, um, in one of the drawings that I have, uh, where the locus is drawn it, and it’s just a very interesting artist’s rendition of what this is.

Cause here’s the description, uh, to them was given power as the scorpions of the earth, half power scorpions in the middle East, they don’t typically have enough venom to kill you, but they will put you in misery for a very long time if you’re stung by them. So here’s this idea of being brought forth to them was given power as the scorpions of the earth,

half power, they were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree. Why is that significant? Because that’s what locus do you go back to Exodus? And what did the Logas do? They ate everything. That’s what locusts plagues do. But here comes a locus plague and they don’t touch anything green. They don’t touch the trees.

They don’t touch anything. They would normally touch they’re focused on something else, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months, their torment was like the torment of a scorpion. When it strikes a man in those days, men will seek death and will not find it.

They will desire to die. And death will flee from them. Something about sin. When a person gets lost in sin, when, when their mind is so corrupted by the evil, they participate in day in and day out. When a nation reaches that level as a whole, one of the things you see is hopelessness. And when hopelessness rains in a nation,

suicide rates, skyrocket, why, well, what do you have to live for? When everything in your life is miserable? When everything in your life is terrible. When everything you see in everything you’re involved in is degrading and polluted and decaying. What do you have to live for here? You have the mentality of this is this sin. So infects them that they want to die,

but God doesn’t let them. They want to end it. But God says, no, no. You’re going to suffer through it. People will act as though sin is harmless. That’s the way the world and, and, and Satan and his minions want to promote it. Sin is harmless. Sin is enjoyable. Sin is, is, is what you should,

you should seek after, but they don’t like painting the pictures of the results. They don’t like showing the video of what happens when someone is so steeped in sin, that they reach that final point where all, all they want to do is die because that’s all they have left. This is the picture of what comes out of the bottomless pit. But then the description,

the shape of the locus was like horses prepared for battle. You’ve never seen any locus like this. These, these locuses are as though they’ve got saddles on them. These locusts are our giant locus that are ready to go to war. So are locusts like horses prepared for battle on their heads were crowns of some thing like gold and their faces were like the faces of men.

All right. They, they appear to be people, but they’re locusts. They appear like horses, but they’re ready for battle. But then he says, and they had on, and their hair was like women’s hair. And their teeth were like, lions, Steve, get a picture of this here. This locus swarm is coming. This plague of locusts is coming in their giant locusts.

And they’re like horses and they’re ready for battle. And their heads look like humans from a distance. Their hair looks like women’s hair. And they that they, they, what you should be seeing here. They almost looked beautiful until you get up close. That’s why sin is looks good to you get up close, but then it devours you. And here’s the picture of them.

And they look good from a distance, but you get up close to them and they’ve got teeth like lions, but then notice they had breast plagues like breastplates of iron and sound. The sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running in the battle. And over powering sound. As they approach, they had tails like scorpions. And there,

there were in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. So here come the scorpion or the, the, the locus and they have this appearance and they’re coming and they’re bringing pollution and torment and sin and destruction, but not death. And they have power for a part of a year. Okay. Again, not giving a specific amount of time.

This is just another indicator of a partial judgment, but then verse 11. And they had as King over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, the star in verse one is referred to as the angel in verse 11, same individual, same entity. Okay. So the star from verse one is here in verse 11 called the angel. But what is he in relationship to the locus?

He’s their King. They’re under his dominion who who’s, who’s the King of evil. Who’s the King of sin. Satan is Jesus said to the Jews, you are of your father, the devil. So this is a picture of Satan Satan’s influence on a nation will destroy it from the inside out all while convincing it that this is what it wants. And yet here’s the interesting point.

Satan’s actions are used by God for his purposes, Rome and its internal moral decay would be used by God to bring judgment on Rome. Yet it was, it was as if Satan was going, I’m getting exactly what I want. And God’s saying, you’re going to get exactly what you deserve. Okay. So they had a King over them. The angel of the bottomless pit,

whose name in Hebrew is Avedon. But in Greek, his name is a Polyon two different words. One Hebrew, one Greek, one means destruction. The other means the destroyer. Okay. So here’s the picture of the star that was in the past, fallen from heaven, who has the keys to the bottomless pit, by the way, he won’t keep those keys.

That’s important to realize he has power over the bottomless pit for a time. His influence comes on the nation and everyone in the nation becomes miserable and they seek Death, but they can’t find it. And he’s reigning over this influence one. Well, verse 12 is passed behold. Still two more woes are coming after these things. Okay? So we’re going since we’re going to be out of time,

we’re going to save the rest of chapter nine for Wednesday. Um, but as you read through verse 13 through verse 21, you have the sixth trumpet, a constant reminder. When you read through this and go what’s that not make sense. It’s not supposed to, okay. It’s a vision, not everything like a parable, Nadia, every little detail is supposed to have a literal parallel.

It’s supposed to paint a picture. And if you had a picture painted of an event where you see a nation and up out of this hole in the earth comes disease and pollution and a plague. And these destroying creatures that are harming everybody, but won’t let them die. They’re tormenting them, but they won’t let them out of the torment. They’re hurting them,

but they won’t let them loose. And that’s sin. That’s sin all over and you look at our country and that sin. Thank you for your attention.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> okay.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> Good morning. And welcome to the Collierville church of Christ. Sunday morning worship service. It’s indeed. Good to see each of you here.

So many smiling faces. I have a few announcements this morning and I don’t see any visitors with us this morning. So, uh, just a quick reminder that, uh, the communion communion trays have been prepared there on the back. If you haven’t picked your communion issue and take this opportunity to go back and get it, we need to remember our sick this morning.

Don’t forget Dorothy and Rodale Wilson. They are suffering from their chronic problems. Joan Springer is still at home, and I think she’s doing a little bit better, but I don’t see either her or Marie here, they are sheltering in place. They’ve been exposed to the COVID a virus. And as a result, they are quarantined. Pam chafing is doing much better.

She’s able to get around some now. And Sylvia pass is with us today after her back problem. Um, and don’t forget Ron Wallace. That is Jacob’s grandfather. I believe her father, but anyway, uh, he, um, is, uh, suffering from a low blood sugar. And as I understand, he is about the same. Janet Jones is in the Memphis Jewish home in room one,

two, three. And I don’t remember her phone number, but it’s on the bulletin board back there. If you have a chance, uh, she’s uh, having a little, uh, I guess it would be more just feeling bad, uh, than anything else, but, um, she’s, she’s there and would very much appreciate, I think having people call and Erin Cozort will have surgery on his broken wrist Thursday,

October 1st. So all of these people, we need to keep in her prayers. I have some, uh, thank you notes here that I would like to read and then I’ll post them on the bulletin board so that you can, uh, uh, have a look at them yourself. Ava Morgan, uh, has written us a thank you note, and I want to read it.

It is with the greatest gratitude and thanks to you all for the cards and prayers I received during the death of my sister in law and my brother during a time like this, it brings forth how much our family and friends mean to us and you, our family, your prayers gave me the strength I needed during this difficult time. Not only for myself,

but to be able to support my family and brother and for them. Thank you with Christian. Love Ava Morgan. I also have a couple of notes from one from Gladys Lyles and her daughter that I want to read. Dear church, family. I don’t know how they work. I don’t have the words to express my love and appreciation for all of you and all of my 95 years,

I have never been so surprised as I was at the birthday. Drive through that. You gave me, I miss all of you and hope that I can be back at church soon. Thank you very much Gladys lines. And I also have a note from her daughter, Linda, and it reads, I want to thank the church for the wonderful drive-through birthday for my mom.

I am sending a donation to the church in her name. Thank you. Those are all the announcements that I have. Um, today’s service. The song leader will be Michael Dale, Joe caisson. We’ll have the opening prayer. Mari Phillips will officiate it. The Lord’s supper. Aaron Cozort will deliver the sermon. And I have the closing prayer once again.

Thank all of you for being here. It’s good to see your faces. Our song to begin our services. This morning will be number 144 O worship the King number 144. Oh, worship the King. Oh, Gloria, bah and grade four. Lee. See his Wanda for LA<inaudible>. Uh<inaudible> with<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> shines in, uh, ah,

it’s dreams from<inaudible> and sweet. The<inaudible><inaudible> and<inaudible> and<inaudible><inaudible> I’m a,<inaudible> a man, a defender.<inaudible> The song before our opening prayer will be number 797. Lord, we come before the now I’m seven, nine, seven<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> Okay.<inaudible> Wow.

Oh God. Our father in heaven, we truly are grateful into the, that we can call your father. We’re so thankful, dear God, that we’ve been brought out of this world of sin by the precious blood of your son. We pray father that as we look to those around us in this world, that we realize how many souls have never named your name and have never come to knowledge of your wheel.

We pray father as a congregation of your people that we do our best to try to reach those in this area with the gospel that they too might know what a blessing it is to be children of yours and not how that weight of sin upon them father, we are grateful for the privilege that we have to be here this day. As your family, we’re thankful for the opportunity that we’ve had to study your word and our Bible class this morning.

We appreciate so much the ability that Aaron has in bringing that class and the message that we’ve been hearing from your book of revelation. We’re so grateful for the, for the understanding of your will and how it should affect our lives and how we can be servants in the kingdom and serve and glorify you with our lives father. We are mindful of those that are not able to be with us.

And we miss him so much and we miss their encouragement that they give us by being here. But we understand where this virus going around. That it’s best for them to be at home, but our prayers are with them. And we pray that you continue to help us to encourage them and them encourage us bother. We’re grateful for the privilege that we have to have your word,

that we can study it and strengthen our faith. That we might be able to reach others with the gospel and try to change their lives, to want to serve you and glorify you father, where mindful of all of those that have been mentioned that have been grieving over loss of loved ones or those that are ill and undergoing treatment. And we pray that the ones that are doctors,

the doctors and nurses that are treating them, we’ll find the best things that might bring, bring them back to a normal way of health. We’re especially mindful of father of Aaron. And we pray that you be with those doctors. It will be in ministering to him, this coming Thursday, that they might do those things that will help repair his wrists,

that after he goes through the time of recovering and the therapy that he receives, that he will have full use of that arm father, we know that there are many that are grieving over various things in this life. We pray that we are an encouragement to them, that we are there for them, that we might bring some joy and peace to their minds,

that they might know that we truly love and care for them and are always there to do whatever we might can do to comfort and help them father. We pray for those that are in other lands, teaching and preaching your word, and we pray your blessings to be upon them, help us to always encourage them as they try to reach those laws, souls,

and other other places. We pray that we might always support them and help them with that work. And we’re grateful that the fact that your words being preached that many souls might hear of it. I want to be obedient to it and become children of yours. By the way, I pray that we never lose sight of how we ought to act in this world,

that we should be a people that have great patients, that we’re long suffering toward one another, that we have a tremendous love for the, and for each other that we’re willing to give up ourselves others. We know in this world that we live in today, it is so people are so selfish and self centered. We pray that we not be that way,

that we extend our love to all of mankind that they know we are your children, that we are. We love you first. And we love others as ourselves, help us to always to have that kind of spirit within us. Yes, this, we should have this morning as we’re able to worship you. We pray in spirit and in truth, be where there,

and they see brings the message, help us to be attentive to it and pray that your word always will dwell in our hearts that we might not sin against thee bless our worship this morning and bless each one. That’s here in jesus’ name. We pray amen. Song to prepare our minds for the Lord’s supper will be number 366 by Christ redeemed by Christ<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> and<inaudible><inaudible>,

uh, step dad<inaudible>. And as we drink, we see, uh, and eh,<inaudible> ah, um, and, uh,<inaudible><inaudible> we, you know, ah<inaudible> and, uh, he, ah, I’m going to read to us this morning from first Corinthians chapter 11, verses 27 through 32. And it reads, therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks,

this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Let, but let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body for this reason. Many are weak and sick among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves,

we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world At this time, let’s focus on the cross and that cruel crucifixion that Jesus went through for our sins. Let us pray. Heavenly father, we’re thankful for this bread that represents jesus’ body. That was nailed to the cross for the sins of mankind.

And we pray heavenly father, you please forgive us of our sins Before we, uh, pray for the fruit of the vine. I’m going to read from John chapter six, verses 53 through 58. Then Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks, my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day for my flesh is food indeed. And my blood is drink. Indeed. He eats my flesh and drink my blood abides in me and I in him as the living father sent me and I live because of the father. So he who feeds on me will live because of me.

This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your father’s eighth and manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever. Unlike men or heavenly father, let’s go to prayer with the blood of Jesus. That’s represented in the fruit of the van. Heavenly father. We’re thankful for this fruit of the van and what it represents and pray heavenly father for your forgiveness this way,

ask in jesus’ name, amen. Separate from the Lord’s table. We have an opportunity to give us we’re here to prosper. Let’s pray. Heavenly father. We’re thankful for the financial gains. We’re here to receive from you throughout the years and pray heavenly father. You will separate portion joyfully back to you to help continue the work here at the Curry with church of Christ.

Amen song. Before the lesson will be number 450. Give me the Bible. If you’re able, let’s stand for this song please. Number four, five, zero.<inaudible> glad Nisqually mean to cheer though.<inaudible> no,<inaudible> small beamy and CERN. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Give me the bah or Holy message. Ah, nah,

guide me and narrow away. Hey<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> my heart is bro.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> by the<inaudible> have and shining port or show me the glory.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> me and a narrow way. Hey,<inaudible> to<inaudible> and he turn all day. Hey, You may be seated. Oh, it’d be wanting to be one of those preachers that got sit on a stool while he taught.

This is a hard way to get there. Take your Bibles if you will. And open them to the book of Zechariah mentioned last week, as we were going through our lesson and chapter nine and chapter 10 that, uh, we would spend the today’s lesson in chapter 11, the beginning of the discussion that’s here in chapter 11 of the book of Zechariah.

It’s it’s part of a single prophecy that begins in chapter nine, but you have a reference in chapter 10. That really is the foundation of what you read in chapter 11. When you get into chapter 10, you read beginning in verse one, ask the Lord for rain in the latter time, or in, in the time of the latter rain, the Lord will make flashing clouds.

He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone. There’s a principle here. That’s established by Zechariah. When you are obedient to God and you ask for what you need, God will provide it for you. Jesus said, ask and you shall receive seek, and you shall find knock and the door shall be opened to you. And he emphasized the reason for that is because God is a loving father who knows how to give his children what they need,

but then notice the following statement for the idols, speak delusion, the diviners InVision lies and tell false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore the people, when they’re way like sheep, they are in trouble because there is no shepherd. This statement about the people that there was no shepherd is the foundation of the discussion in chapter 11, God in chapter nine says I’m going to judge a Syria and I’m going to judge the Medes and the Persians.

And I’m going to judge Greece and I’m going to judge the Philistines and I’m going to judge tire and I’m going to judge Seiden and I’m going and on and on and on the list goes, all the enemies of Israel are going to be judged and God’s going to bring Judah and Israel together. Ephraim and Judah are going to be brought back together and they will be brought into the lamp and they will prosper.

And they will pray for the reigns in the latter, uh, during the latter rains and the rains will come, But they’ve got to be warned. They’ve got to be mindful that just because God says I will do these things doesn’t mean they can let their guard down. It doesn’t mean they can just listen to everybody that comes along. Moses told Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 13,

there would be those that would come from the outside. And there would be those that would come from the inside, come from their Mo their own selves that would teach them to depart from the Lord. And that they were to not only be aware when someone was doing that, but that they were to defend themselves by putting a false prophet to death. They were to be active in defending their own knowledge of the truth.

God says, I’ll give you what you need, but you need to know that false prophets and false teachers and liars and deceivers will come against you. And they will tear you apart until you are sheep without a shepherd, If you let them. And unfortunately, they let them, when God judged Israel, when Babylon was brought against the Southern kingdom of Judah,

uh, Syria was brought against the Northern kingdom of Israel. God said a remnant will return. A remnant of my people will still here. And in chapter 11, there will still be a remnant. Even in the days of Christ, when they would crucify the very son of God, there would still be a remnant, but God would be done with this nation to get the foundation of the message of chapter 11.

Take your mind back to a time when Israel had arrived at Mount Sinai, they come to the mountain and they’re there and they begin to settle around the mountain and God tells them I’m going to deliver to you the law. I’m going to speak to you. You make sure no one touches the mountain. Anything that touches the mountain while my presence is on the mountain will die.

And so God in Exodus chapter 19 begins to speak to them. But at the end of chapter 19, the Israelites come to Moses and they say, we can’t do this anymore. We’re terrified. W you go up to the mountain and you receive the law from God and tell us what God says, because we can’t hear his voice anymore because we’re afraid we’re going to die paraphrased there.

So Moses goes up on the mountain and Moses goes on the mountain and God delivers to him, the 10 commandments in written tablets of stone. And God gives him the law. And he is there on the Mount. And he is there on the Mount and the people are down the bottom and they’re waiting and they’re waiting. And he’s on the Mount for 40 days and 40 nights.

God gives them the law. God gives him the tablets. And then he hears down below him, the sound, the sound of the people. And he goes down to investigate and they’re bowing down and worshiping an idol. God makes a statement to Moses and essentially tells Moses, I’m going to destroy this people. I’m going to wipe this people off the face of the earth.

And I will raise up from you a new nation. And I’m going to start over because of the wickedness of this people, they’ve seen every single plague. They were in Egypt and, and we’re there to witness the complete decimation of a world power. And they saw everything that happened. And then they walked out of Egypt with all the value and the profit and the plunder of Egypt.

And they walked through the red sea on dry ground. And they came to Mount Sinai and they heard my voice. And less than a month later, they are worshiping an idol. God says I’m done with, and Moses responds to God. You can’t do that. Think of what the nations around would say, they would blaspheme your name. They would say,

you brought this people into the wilderness to kill them. You can’t do it. And God relents. But that picture of God’s saying because of idolatry, because of sin because of wickedness, because they refused to recognize him as Lord, God almighty God said I’m done with them. Chapter 11 in Zechariah is a rehearsal forecasting. The time when God would say I’m done with them,

they’ve gone too far. Chapter 11 begins open your doors. A Lebanon. Lebanon is in the North, up in the region of tire inside. And it was a region that was known for its trees, for its forests, for the Cedars of Lebanon that was used, that were used to build the temple by Solomon open your doors O Lebanon, that fire may devour your Cedars.

The one defining attribute of this land. God says, I’m coming for that. I’m coming for what you treasure. Most whale Oh, Cyprus for the Cedar has fallen. A Cypress tree of course has, is not as significant in the land of Lebanon is not as significant, not as, uh, as much value as the S the, Uh, Cedar.

So here are the Cypress trees over here, and they’re told you whale because the Cedars are going to be destroyed because the mighty trees are ruined. Whale. Oaks of basin for the thick forest has come down. There is the sound of whaling shepherds for their glory is in ruins. There is the sound of roaring lions for the pride of the Jordan is in ruins the pride of the Jordan there.

The word could be translated thickets. It’s the idea of the reeds and the thickets that grew up as a result of the Jordan overflowing its banks. Every year, it would overflow its banks and the, this, uh, very fertile ground would shoot out these thickets and all these are going to get wiped away. God says, I’m destroying what you value.

I’m destroying what you think is important. And he calls upon the shepherds to weep because they are the focus of this judgment. Thus, as the Lord gone, verse four, feed the flock for slaughter. Now over in the book of John and John chapter 21 gone tells Peter feed my sheep three times. He asked Peter, Peter, do you love me?

And Peter responds. I love you, Lord. There’s the discussion about the different words, but that’s not what I want us to focus on. The response that Jesus comes back with each time to Peter is feed my Sheep, feed my lambs. You love me care for my flock, whose job is that? The job of the shepherd, it’s the job of a shepherd to feed the sheep.

It’s the job of the shepherd to lead the sheep, to pass into two pastures that are rich, where they can feed and they can grow and they can be healthy. But these sheep aren’t being fed to grow and be healthy. These sheep Are being fed for slaughter. There’s a difference in how you care for an animal that you care nothing about because it’s only a source of wealth for you and an animal that you care for.

And you love. There’s a difference in how you treat them. There’s a difference in how you care for them. And these shepherds are Only shepherds for the prophet. They’re only shepherds for what they get. Notice what he says. Thus says the Lord, my God feed the flock for slaughter, whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt. Those who sell them say blessed,

be the Lord for, I am rich and their shepherds do not pity them. Your mind should go over to Matthew chapter 23 and Matthew chapter 23, Jesus pronounces woes against the Pharisees and against the scribes and the chief priests and the leaders of the people, the shepherds of Israel. And he accuses them of devouring widow’s houses. He accuses them of robbing the poor.

They didn’t care about the people. They didn’t feed them as good shepherds. They used them to enrich themselves. Verse six for, I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land. Now wait a minute, God, if this, if the shepherds are the ones doing this, if the shepherds are the ones who are abusing people, if the shepherds are the ones who are causing the problems,

why is it the inhabitants of the land? The flock is going to get destroyed. Why is it that the flock is going to be punished? The flock is going to get slaughtered. Why is that going to be the case? If it’s the shepherds that are the problem, and you’ll see why in a moment, but it ultimately comes down to this because the flop gets to choose who it follows.

The flock gets to choose. If those shepherds continue to be shepherds, and if they continue to hear their voices, remember chapter 10, verses one and two, you can pray to me and I’ll give you what you need. Or you can listen to false teachers and follow them, but you cannot do both. So then notice what we read here. Zechariah is playing the part of the shepherd.

So I fed the flock for slaughter in particular, the poor of the flock. I took for myself, two staffs, the one I called beauty and the other, I called bonds and I fed the flock. A shepherd would take his staff and he would use the staff to tend the flock, to, to keep the flog, to guide the flock.

And he’s here as a shepherd, who’s using two stabs. One of them is called beauty. The word also means grace graciousness. The other is bonds, not the idea of chains, but what bonds, two people together that, which is their attachment and their, their connection to one another. And the shepherd goes out to feed the sheep. And he feeds them with these two stabs.

He’s doing what they need. He’s caring for them properly using the proper tools of a shepherd. But then notice I dismissed the three shepherds in one month, my soul lows, them and their soul. Also abhorred me. Someone who’s working on behalf of God is opposed by someone who’s only interested in themselves. And Zechariah says, I, I pushed them out.

These three shepherds, but they abhorred me. Then I said, I will not feed you. Let what is dying die? And what is perishing perish. Let those that are left, eat each other’s flesh. The shepherd says, I’m done with you. I’m done with you. I’m done with this flock. Those that are going to die, let them die.

Those that are gonna perish, let them perish because everyone else is only interested in themselves and they will devour everyone else. You’re seeing a picture of a flock that is not a normal flock of sheep. This is not a flock of sheep that hears the voice of the shepherd and follows them. This is a flock of sheep that is internally divided and only cares for them selves And the shepherds giving up on them.

I took my staff beauty and cut it into that. I might break the covenant, which I made with all the peoples peoples. Here’s a reference to the nations. Some have been had different ideas on what this means, but here’s what I think you need to get from it. God said to Abraham, back in Genesis, chapter 12, those who bless you,

I will bless those who curse you. I will curse. God essentially made a covenant with all the nations of the earth saying, if you do right by my covenant people, I will do good to you. If you mistreat my covenant people, I’m coming after you. Now, we’ve just had two solid of God Saying I’m going to judge those who have done evil to my people,

but now the flock is no longer faithful to God. Now the flock will no longer hear his shepherds. Now the flock only cares about themselves and will eat and devour themselves. And God says to all the nations around you or around the flock, you’re off the hook. Now the covenant I made with you that I would bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them is over.

This is God telling the nations have Adam. They’re not my people anymore. And remember in Exodus, God said there was a point where were the people of Israel enough was enough. And he would no longer keep them alive because he was the only thing standing between them and destruction. So then notice what happens. So it was broken on that day. Thus,

the poor of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord. This, this covenant is broken. God ends it. And the poor of the flock, the, the, the, the defenseless ones, the ones who can’t care for themselves, the, the, the ones who, who are like in most nations, those who are just stepped on trod upon and despised by everyone.

Those, by the way, if you look at the new Testament who heard Jesus, who listened to Jesus, who wanted to be with Jesus, who wanted to obey Jesus, who did obey Jesus, they heard this pronouncement and they knew it was the word of the Lord. And that’s a contrast because that means the rich, the prosperous the well off the goodly of the flock.

They said, that’s not God, that’s not God’s word. Couldn’t be, he never break that covenant. And the Lord said to me, or, sorry, verse 12. Then I said to them, so the shepherd says to the sheep, if it is agreeable to you, give me my wages and if not refrain. So they weighed out for my wages,

30 pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, throw it to the Potter that the princely price they set on me. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the Potter. Now the new Testament will tell us clearly that this is a prophecy of Christ, because it would be for 30 pieces of silver,

that Judas would betray Jesus. And here’s where the entire chapter wraps itself up in its focus, because you have the value of a savior. In this passage, the flock is asked, what am I worth to you? The flock is asked, how much do you value me? I’m the one who cares for you. I’m the one who feeds you.

I’m the one who provides for you. I’m the one who loves you. I’m the one who gives himself for you. I’m the one who came for you. What am I worth? I won’t tell you what I’m worth. You tell me what I’m worth. You decide what I’m worth. And the flog decides the Shepherd’s worth 30 pieces of silver. Now 30 pieces of silver in the old Testament.

Isn’t just a number. It isn’t just a random poll out of nowhere. Number it’s Exodus, chapter 21 in Exodus, chapter 2130 pieces of silver is not just the price of a slave Exodus chapter. 20 ones is 30 pieces of silver was the restoring price of a slave gored by an animal. Here’s a master. He has a slave that slave, or that servant is gored by an animal.

He can’t work anymore. He can’t labor anymore. He can’t do his job. He’s a slave that will have to be sustained by the masters in there for the rest of his life, who can no longer do anything. He is a value LIS slave. And so for the one whose animal, it was the Gord, another master servant, the one who owned the animal had the pay that master the price of a slave that was worthless and a worthless slaves price was 30 pieces of silver.

The shepherd says to the flock, what am I worth to you? And the flock says you’re as much as a worthless slave and Judas sold his master for 30 pieces of silver, having seen what would happen to Christ Judas would take the money back to the chief priests, the shepherds, and he would say, take it back. Or they said, Oh,

we can’t, we can’t accept that, that money that’s blood money. We can’t allow that to be brought into the house of the Lord that they could take from the house of the Lord and pay the price, but they couldn’t take it back after it was used for such a terrible cause. Judas would throw it at their feet and they would use it to buy the Potter’s field.

That would be used to bury those who had no burial place in the land of Israel. When the flock decided, as they cried out to pilot, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. As they decided he was worth nothing. He was worth so little. They said, give us Barabis back the murderer and the rioter and the one who tried to overthrow the government,

give that one back to us, but take this one who claims to be our King and kill him. God said, I’m done with you. This covenant is over. Then I cut into my other staff bonds that I might break the brotherhood between Israel or Judah and Israel. And the Lord said to me next, take for yourself. The implements of a foolish shepherd.

One of these days, I’m going to do a sermon or maybe Michael can write it and turn it in. When he gets into Zachariah, the tools of a fool, because God says you did have two staffs. And they were the correct tools. They were the tools of a wise shepherd. But now you’re going to tend to my sheep with the tools of a foolish shepherd.

You’re going to use the wrong implements. You’re going to do it the wrong way. You’re going to lead them to destruction because that’s what they’ve decided they will get. He says, take for yourself. The implements of a foolish shepherd for indeed. I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off nor seek the young,

nor heal. Those that are broken nor feed those that stand still, or that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces, Whoa, to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock, a sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye. He is arms shall completely with her and his right eye shall be totally blinded.

God says to Israel, if you value my shepherd so little, if you value what I did for you so little, if you will turn against me and follow after these shepherds, then I’m done with you. And I’m going to allow a shepherd to rise up that will devour you God, through Christ would tell his disciples in Matthew chapter 24, that there was coming a day when they needed to be aware and they needed to be watching because there was coming a day when God would bring judgment on Jerusalem and not another stone would be stacked upon another left on the temple,

God would tear it down. God would destroy their nation and God would end his covenant with that people for forever. And they seal that faint. When they put Christ on the cross, they said, God, we don’t care what you do. Or we’ve seen the miracles. We’ve seen what he does. We know that he’s from you, but we don’t care.

We’re going to follow our shepherds. Now you and me, what are we doing? Who are we listening to? And who are we following? Are we looking to God’s word? Are we saying whatever he says in here? That’s what I’m going to do. If he tells me to stop doing what I’m doing, I’m going to stop doing. If he tells me to love someone that I look at as unlovable,

I’m going to love them. If he tells me to care for those who aren’t worth it in my minds, but they’re worth it in his, I will. He tells me to listen and follow him. Then I will. Or are we like Jesus looked upon the people in his day and saw them as sheep without a shepherd. Not because they didn’t have shepherds because the shepherds were only there to use the sheep to get out of them.

What they could. What kind of flock are we? If you’re outside the body of Christ this morning, you’re outside of the flock of God. You’re outside of the hope and the salvation provided by him. But Jesus said, I am the good shepherd and my sheep. Hear my voice. If you’re open to hearing the voice of the Lord, you can begin doing that today to hear what he has said to do what he has said.

He said, if you love me, keep my commandments. You have need of the salvation of God. You can have it. It’s available to you. You can go in through the door and enter the sheepfold. Jesus said, you become part of my flog by dying. Like I died dying to sin and rising the walk in newness of life. Having heard the word,

believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God, repenting of your sins and confessing the name of Christ and being immersed, buried in water for the remission of your sins, dying to sin and rising up to live for him. You can do that. If you’re a member of the body of Christ and you’re a sheep, that’s wandered away, listen to the voice of the savior and come home.

If you have need of the invitation, you can come forward. Now as we stand and as we sing, Yeah,<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> jeez, us. Well, me<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> jeez, us we’ll meet you.<inaudible> a song for our closing. Prayer will be number 648. Stand up,

stand up for Jesus. Stand up, stand up. Or jeez, uh<inaudible><inaudible> and<inaudible> from<inaudible><inaudible> uh, he, the<inaudible> and<inaudible> stand up, stand up or GE is a us<inaudible> Hey for<inaudible> and<inaudible> that? Uh, man, uh<inaudible> uh,<inaudible> uh<inaudible> with Danja and strain to strain up<inaudible> and uh, stand up.

Jeez, us<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> uh,<inaudible> Dan been, uh, wanting<inaudible> stand up, stand up. Jeez, us<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> to<inaudible><inaudible> uh,<inaudible> uh,<inaudible> Heavenly father. We’re indeed grateful for the privilege that we’ve had to assemble and worship. We pray that our worship to you has been in spirit and truth and a sweet savor as we prepare to depart.

And we’re mindful of those that are not able to be among us. We pray that your healing hand will be placed upon them. And they, once again, may assemble with us. We’re also mindful of those that have lost loved ones. We pray that you will comfort them as only you can bless each of us. As we prepared to depart, according to our several needs.

Forgive us. When we sin against thee and turn back, we thank you father for your love and care for us. As we depart, may we always take the son, the name of your son with us. It’s in his name that we pray. Amen.