Class:
JOHN-1 John 3
Love of Brother
- What will children of God be like when Jesus appears? 1 John 3:2 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- Define sin. A person alive in Christ (a) keeps on sinning or (b) does not keep on sinning. 1 John 3:4, 6, 9 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- How long has the devil been sinning?
How did Jesus destroy the devil’s work? 1 John 3:8 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ - Anyone who hates his brother is a _______________. 1 John 3:15 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- How did Jesus demonstrate love? 1 John 3:16 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- Children of God should love with (a) words, (b) actions, (c) tongue, or (d) truth. 1 John 3:18
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ - God lives in whom? 1 John 3:24 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sermon:
Zechariah 5-6 – The Scroll; The Basket; The Chariots; The Gifts; THE BRANCH
Automated Transcript
<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> Good morning. We are in first, John chapter three, hopefully everyone has picked up a set of the questions. If not, they are in the back. Let’s begin with a word of prayer. Our gracious father in heaven. We humbly bow before your throne grateful for the day, you’ve ran into us in the life that you offer us grateful for the opportunity to study your word and to understand better what things you would have for us to do for our lives.
We pray that you will be with those throughout this country who are struggling with illnesses, struggling with difficulties, struggling with lost jobs, struggling with all the many cares of this life and the things that come with it pray most, especially that they will be aware of their spiritual condition, that they will open their Bibles. They will study your word and they will come to a knowledge of the truth.
Be obedient to it. Lord, we pray that you’d be with those who are traveling had they reached their destination safely, and may they arrive back to their home safely as well. Pray for those who are still unable to get out for, because of reasons of the virus. And we pray that you will give them safety and comfort and strength as they endure through this difficult time,
we pray for leaders of this nation, And we pray for the leaders of nations throughout the world, that they might always make decisions that are in accordance with your will. And that even when they failed to do what is right for the right reasons that we might have opportunities made available to us to spread the good news of the kingdom through their actions. Lord,
we pray that when we sin and fall short of your glory, you were willing to forgive us as we repent of those things. We thank you for that. We thank you most, especially for your son who died on the cross for our sins to become a propitiation for us all this, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. John begins with a series of thoughts about a biding.
He begins in chapter two, verse 24 says, therefore let that or excuse me, therefore, let that abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning. So you going to begin this idea, this theme with allow the truth that which you have heard from the beginning to abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning of binds in you,
you also will abide in the son and in the father, the relationship that a person has with God and Christ is dependent upon their relationship to his word. You can’t have a relationship with God and Christ independent or separated from the revelation of God. And so notice what he says. He says, and this is the promise that he has promised us eternal life.
So he ties on to that. The relationship with God is the dependency upon which you have eternal life. So without the truth, you can’t have a relationship with God without a relationship with God, you do not have eternal life. So then he says these things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you, but the anointing, which you have received from him,
abides in you, and you do not need that. Anyone teach you, but the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie just as it has taught you. You will abide in him. John goes back to that anointing. Now, again, we mentioned on Wednesday that we’re in a context of time in first, John,
where the first century church still has access to the laying on of the hands of the apostles because they, and therefore the gifts of the Holy spirit, because John’s still around. I mean, it, obviously the apostles haven’t died off yet. They’re getting a letter from one of them. So the miraculous still is still part of the church at that time.
And so John’s reference here to the spirit of biding in them and providing them this knowledge is a reference to the miraculous gifts of revelation and prophecy. He says, and now little children abide in him. He calls them back to this idea of bide in God. He says, it’s a choice, John makes it clear. You choose to abide in God.
If John says to someone who has no choice, because the spirit does it for him and the spirit determines whether or not he abides in God and God determined before he was ever born, whether or not he would abide in God, if it’s all up to God and it’s not up to man, what’s the point of John saying to a Christian abide in him,
the Christian, if Calvinism was true, would turn around and look at John and go, what choice do I have in the decision? It’s all up to God, God determined before I was created before I was born, whether I would be in him or not. And the spirit doesn’t based upon his power and his anointing of me, whether I do it or not.
So why do, why, why am I being told to do this? This is where Calvinism just falls apart. When you look at what the new Testament actually says, he says, and now little children abide in him that when he appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him and his coming. John makes it clear. Not only are we responsible for abiding in him because God’s not moving.
God’s not changing. God’s not departing from us. If there’s a separation between God and us, it’s only because who moved us. So it is our decision and our choice and our responsibility to abide in him and not to depart from him. But he ties that forward to judgment. Now, whether the coming here is coming of judgment in the near future,
in the days of the Jewish system and the destruction of the Jewish system or the coming of eternal judgment on the judgment day, when this life is over, frankly, doesn’t matter either way, because if they weren’t abiding in Christ and they weren’t faithful to God, when the judgment came on the Jewish nation, they probably were going to suffer as a result.
And if they’re certainly not abiding in him, when they end this life and the day of judgment comes, they’re certainly going to be a negative result. I tend to think though the context here in contrast, by the way, to Peter’s writings and James, his writings, John is writing to a broader audience. John is writing to a more combination of Jew and Gentile Christians.
And his focus is not nearly as much on Jerusalem and on Judah and on the destruction of the nation as Peter and James were. So I tend to believe that John here is referencing the coming of Christ in the sense of the second coming of Christ. If you know, verse 29, that he is righteous. You know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him.
When you read that, if you know that he is righteous, the idea there is, and he is, it’s an implied in phatic statement. He is righteous. So if you know that he is righteous and he is, you know, that everyone who practice practices, righteousness is born of him. The one who does what God says in all facets is the one who is the offspring of God.
Turn over to John chapter one, John chapter one, because John is writing about Christ verse nine. 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 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 flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Now notice what John just said there. John said that the person who’s born of God is the person not who rejects Christ or rejects his word.
But the one who received him who received his word, his doctrine and was obedient to it, to them. He gave the right to become the children of God. So John says, if you know that he is righteous and he is, then you know that those who practice righteousness are born of him. What’s the implication of that. For those who don’t practice righteousness,
they’re not born of God. The logical opposite is if the one who practices righteousness is born of God. The one who practices unrighteousness is not Bible elsewhere says you shall know them by their fruits. He said, you can look at the actions in a person’s life. You can look at their lifestyle. You can look at what they do, and you can know whether or not they’re righteous.
Now, obviously we’re not dealing here with the idea of someone who’s putting on a show and doing everything right in public. And in private, they’re doing everything wrong. He’s talking about an entire life. He’s talking about. They truly practice righteous. And as they’re not the Pharisees who are putting on a show and who, you know, want to be seen for fasting.
And so they show themselves and they, they, they dirty their face up. So they look like they’re fasting longer than that. You know, it’s not that, it’s the idea of the one who truly is practicing righteousness. Now. Then he says, behold, what manner of love the father has bestowed on us? That we should be called children of God.
Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him here in chapter three. You’re going to have this carrying on of this concept of abiding an on a number of different levels. We’re going to talk about that throughout chapter three, but you’re also going to see the word know, K N O w over and over and over again. You’re going to get a bide or some form of abide six times in this chapter,
but you’re going to get no, I didn’t actually count them, but a bunch more than that. Okay. But notice how he begins. At least the way the chapters are broken up in our English Bibles. He says behold in a movie, that would be the climactic scene. It’s the, it’s the scene you don’t want to miss. It’s the thing that you don’t want to overlook.
John says, wake up and look at this bow. Hold. What manner of love the father has bestowed on us? Psalmus writer expressed it this way. What is man, that you are mindful of him. John wants us to take a moment and just stop and understand and bow hold and look upon the reality that we didn’t deserve this. We didn’t earn this humanity in no way,
shape or form is valuable enough in their own right to have deserved Christ dying for us. John writes in John chapter 10 is Jesus is speaking concerning the shepherd and the sheep that he describes himself as the good shepherd and that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Now let’s just step back from a purely pragmatic look at this of which or which individual,
which, which being has greater value, the sheep or the shepherd, the shepherd that ought to be that ought to be a no brainer. Why then would the shepherd lay down his life for the sheep because of his care for them and the value. He places on them as an outsider, looking at the situation, we would go, Nope, Shepherd’s worth more after all.
And, and, and we do this calculus. If the shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, then the sheep are without a shepherd. Therefore the sheep are worse off than they were. If some of them died, except here’s the other part of the calculus. What if all of them died? What if by the shepherd laying down his life,
they have an opportunity for life. And without the shepherd laying down his life, all of them die. What does Romans chapter three verse 23 says for, we have all sin and come short of the glory of God, Romans chapter six, verse 23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Behold. What manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should not only be given eternal life,
but that we should be called the children of God. There are a lot of kids in this world that I’m fond of. And I appreciate, and don’t mind being around, but there’s only three. I call my children. They have a special place. Trust me. When I get in the car and go home, they’re coming with me and nobody else’s kids are.
And when we wake up in the morning, they’re going to get fed at the, at the breakfast table. And nobody else’s kids are beloved. Now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him for, we shall see him as he is one of my favorite passages in all of the new Testament,
two reasons. Number one, it tells us that there were things that even the apostle John, as he was getting up in age, as he was old, as he was considered an elder, as he was one who was nearing the end of his life, there were still things he didn’t know about eternity. I find great comfort in that because there’s many things I don’t know about eternity.
And John says, here, here, he’s writing to the Christian. He says, when we get into eternity, we don’t know what we shall be like. W we don’t know what our life in eternity is going to be like, but we know this. We shall be like him. Who’s the him there Christ. So he says, when he is revealed,
we shall be like him. And John says that to give us hope, which by the way, indicates that everyone who says I’ve gone into eternity. I died for 23 minutes and I went into eternity. And then I came back and this is what he turned into. His life is a liar. They’re just flat wrong. I don’t know what they were on.
And I don’t know what they hallucinated, but they aren’t on what they think they’re on. And that it was a trip round trip from eternity. He goes on to say, and everyone who has this hope in him, purifies himself just as he is pure. So this understanding of eternity, this motivation toward being with God, because you will bind when in him,
you are doing and practicing righteousness. And as a result, when he is revealed, you will be like him. He says, this is your motivation to purify yourself. This is your motivation to keep cleansing sin out of your life. Because the person who has this hope, the person who knows that he turned it, he will be our opportunity to be like,
Christ is going to start getting ready. Now he’s going to start cleansing his life of sin. Now he is going to start trying to be like Christ. Now, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins. And in him, there is no sin. John says, sin is the transgression of the law.
It is the going beyond the law. It is lawlessness. And, you know, he says, you have every knowledge of the fact that Jesus Christ came into this world to take away sin. So if we want to be like Christ, and if Christ came to take away sin, then what should we do in our own lives? Take away sin.
Whoever abides in him does not sin. That doesn’t mean sinlessly perfect. He’s talking about your choices. You, as you abide in Christ, as you abide in him, as you abide in that hope, as you have a knowledge of what he would have you to do, you look at what he would have you do, and you make that choice.
And he goes on to say, whoever abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. The one who pursues sin, the one who goes after righteousness, the one who says, I know what God said, but I enjoy it. John says, you don’t know God, this is not as some would have it.
A passage that upholds once saved, always saved. This is one of those passages that, uh, people who believe in once saved, always saved will come to and say, see if a person sins. They never knew God. If a person abides in righteousness, then they know God. So if you’re a Christian, once saved, always saved. But if you’re not a Christian,
you’re lost, but you’ll never go from one to the other because he says they neither have seen him nor known him. Now we’ve got to make sure all of these passage passages don’t contradict each other. Because Peter, just over a passage, we just read a few weeks ago, said that there were those who were Christians who had become like the dog returning to his vomit and the Sal going back to wallowing in the mire because they had returned to sin.
So how do we understand both of these passages? Correct? You’re dealing with a passage talking about them remaining in sin. Someone who comes and they hear the gospel. They believe the gospel. They go through the steps, but inwardly the entire time they’re going, but I’m not changing. Oh, I’ll I’ll, I’ll, I’ll get put in the water,
but I’m going to live the way I’m going to live. What was the effect of their baptism? They got wet. First Peter chapter three, verse 21 speaks about the fact that baptism, which also now saves us is the answer of a good conscience toward God. That is an individual who says I have to die. The old man has to be put to death so that the new man can be born again.
You can’t enter into Christianity and go, well, I’m going to do this and God’s gonna forgive me, but I’m not going to change. Put in here in your mind of person who goes, I’m willing to hear and I’m willing to believe, and I’m willing to confess and I’m willing to be baptized. What did they leave out? I’m not willing to repent because I’m not willing to change.
You’re talking about someone who comes in and by the way that they were dealing with this in the first century church, okay? When John is writing to them, he’s writing to them with those who were, what, who were going out from them. And he described them as the antichrist. And he’s going to get back to that for the end of this chapter,
they were in opposition to Christ and yet they were coming out of the church. Remember is you’re dealing with this. You’re not only dealing with him talking about morality. You’re dealing with them talking about doctrine as well. He’s saying they don’t practice righteousness. And they’re going out from us claiming to be righteous. But you look at their lives and they never submitted to God.
They never were obedient to God. They were from beginning to end from day one till now, those who were only about themselves. So as you’re dealing with this, what’s, you’re not dealing with contextually. You’re not dealing with a person who was doing what was right from day one and then stumbled. And John says, no, no, no, somebody who’s doing right.
Can’t stumble. You’re not dealing with that. You’re dealing with someone who put on a show from day. One of being righteous, but their life was the exact opposite and their attitude in their action declared the fact. They never were obedient to God. They never knew him. And they never submitted to him. Okay? Notice what he had, what he says here.
He says little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices. Righteousness is righteous just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil for the devil sin. From the beginning for this purpose, the son of man was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil in John chapter eight. Jesus told the Jews, you have,
you are of your father, the devil, who did they believe their father to be? Abraham? Jesus said, you not only don’t know who Abraham is. You’re not his child. John is bringing that idea forward. Here are Jews there. They’re there. They’re in the covenant. They believe they’re part of the right lineage. They believe they’re the descendants of Abraham.
They believe. And Jesus says, your children would say, wait a minute. Oh, wait, there’s this other passage? Matthew chapter seven, Matthew chapter seven, verse 24, sorry. Verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name and notice this phrase. And then I will declare to them. I never knew you depart from me. You who practice lawlessness. Now what did verse four? Just say the one who commits sin commits lawlessness or sin is lawlessness.
Same context, same idea. Jesus says, I never knew you. You claim to be mine and you never were. You claim to be doing this in my name. And you never did. You wanted to portray that you belong to me, but you didn’t because you didn’t do what I commanded you. So then he says, whoever has been born of God does not sin for his seed remains in him.
And he cannot sin because he has been born of God in this, the children of God and the children of devil of the devil are manifest. That is their maiden known. Whoever does not practice. Righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. John’s going to go from love the Lord, thy God, with all my heart,
with all my soul, with all my strength in all my mind and love thy neighbor as thyself, John’s going to transition from God, loved you. And behold that love. Now you look at your brother and you tell me, do you love your brother? Do you hate your brother? He says this. He says in this, the children of God and the children of devil are manifest.
Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother for this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous do not Marvel my brethren.
If the world hates you, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death, old Testament. Prophet said it this way. Can two walk together except they be agreed. The world does not walk with Christians in harmony and unity. It’s one of the reasons why, you know,
there will never be world peace, not in the universal sense of the term, because the only way there will ever be world peace. And this is kind of just a dichotomy in itself is that there’s no more Christians for the world to hate. But then again, if the world was completely filled with sin, you think there’s going to be world peace.
Nope. Think Noah experienced pretty much the closest thing to that, that you could get to. And what did we read about that? Every thought was only evil. Continually. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brethren. Now wait a minute. So the sign, the, the, the, the, one of the reasons we can know we’re Christians is because of how we treat our brethren.
Yes. Turn over to John chapter 14, John chapter, sorry, 13 beginning, verse 33 little children. I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek me. And as I said to the Jews where I am going, you cannot come. So now I say to you, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another.
As I have loved you, that you also love one another by this all will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another, a defining characteristic of Christians is their love for one another so much. So that Jesus said the world will look at you and they’ll know, they’ll know there won’t be a doubt in their mind that person’s a Christian.
Now you and I, we have to look at our lives ago. Could, could they tell good? Could they really tell that we’re a Christian by how we treat our brethren? He goes on to say, we know that we’ve passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.
And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him the same way. Jesus said the one who hates his brother and his heart has killed him already. John says, you hate your brother and you have in your heart, all the attributes of a murderer Cain killed his brother because Kane’s deeds were unrighteous. And his brothers were righteous by this. We know love because he laid down his life for us.
And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Now, John writes to these Christians and he calls upon them to lay down their lives for one another. And you know, I’ve imagined that probably we look at it this way. We being generally people in a society, we look at things like war and defending our homes, defending our country,
defending our nation. And we go, I wouldn’t want to die. But if I had to, I would, if it meant saving a country, if it meant defending the country then, or defending my family or defending my home, I’d die. But there’s more to it than that. There’s more to what John is saying. Then being willing to lay down your life for someone as a point action,
I E to die for them because there’s more to what Jesus did than just die for us. Isn’t there. If Jesus had come down from heaven the day before the crucifixion gone to the cross and then returned to heaven the day afterwards, would that have been the same thing? No, he didn’t. He divested himself of what it was to be the son of God.
He made, brought, took on flesh being lower than the angels. And he lived for us first, before he died for us. And it is that reason. John is going to tell us, you lay down your life for your brethren and then immediately go into, but verse 17, whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him.
How does the love of God abide in him? John says, you need to lay down your life for your brethren, but if you won’t even take your stuff and help your brother, how can you claim to love your brother? The things that you know, aren’t eternal, the things that you know are passing away. The things that you know, belong to God to begin with.
You won’t even take what you have and help your brother who’s in need. So how do you claim the love your brother? If you won’t do the lower one, how can you be expected to do the greater one? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth, this is very similar in thought to what James said.
When James said, show me your faith without your works. And I’ll show you my faith by my works. And by this, John says, when you’ve actually enacted love, when you’ve actually practiced, love, just like he told you to practice righteousness. That’s the idea here. You abide in God because you practice righteousness. You abide in God because you practice love.
Why, because God is righteous. And because God first loved us. He says, and by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him for if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things beloved. If our heart does not condemn us, we have competence toward God and whatever we ask,
we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he has commanded or as gay as he gave us commandment. Now he who keeps his commandments abides in him and he and him, by the way that he and him,
you abide in God and God abides in you is what he’s saying. And by this, we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he is given us. Okay, let’s go through the questions real quick. We’re out of time. What will children of God be like when Jesus appears like Christ define sin, lawlessness or transgression of the law.
A excuse me, a person alive in Christ. A keeps on sending or B does not keep on. Sending does not keep on sending. How long has the devil Ben sinning from the beginning? How did Jesus destroy the devil’s work? I being manifested. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. How did Jesus demonstrate? Love laid down his life.
Children have gone, should love with a words, B actions, C tongue or D truth. All right, actions and truth. God loves in whom lives, lives, sorry, lives. That’s a different, that’s a different word. God lives in home. Those that keep his commandments. All right. Thank you for your attention. You are dismissed.<inaudible><inaudible>,<inaudible> Tine began our service.
We’re certainly happy to have everyone here today, especially those of you that are visiting with us. And we do have a special guest today that you have, if you haven’t met her yet, uh, Alison is here with she’s part of the Dale family, and we’re really, yeah. And we’re really happy to see her. We’ve heard a lot about her,
but we haven’t, I haven’t met her and maybe some of you have, but, uh, we haven’t met her. So we wanted to know what she was like. And now you can meet her and talk to her, just make sure you’re six feet apart though. Uh, we don’t want to mess that up. And of course, most of us would already have already messed that up.
So, uh, certainly good to see you. It’s, it’s hard to stay apart when you love each other, like we do here. Uh, if you did not get the Lord’s supper, now’s a good time to go back at some of the table there and the back of the auditorium. Um, we want to remind you that we do want to remember Joan Springer.
She’s still having her ups and downs, and we’d certainly want to remember her and our prayers. Also, we want to remember Rodale and Dorothy Wilson, uh, Ru Dale had an ultrasound Thursday for heart valve issue. And of course, Dorothy had to go to the ER with high blood pressure and they think she might’ve had possibly had a stroke. So, uh,
keep them in your prayers. And we probably all need to check on them and call them, see if there’s any way we can maybe assist them with both of them, particularly Dorothy, cause she’s the one that basically takes care of most of the things. And, uh, see if there’s any way we might can assist them. Uh, Pam shafing is of course continues to have back problems.
Sylvia pass also has back pains, but I think she’s to undergo a nerve block on the 30th of this month. Is that right? Sylvia? The 30th. Okay. So remember Sylvia and your prayers and pray that that will, will help her with her issue. Uh, they own the ELLs. You notice they weren’t here Wednesday and they’re not here today.
Uh, Alicia, one of her coworkers has been exposed to the COVID virus and, uh, she’s supposed to, they did a test and she should have the results of that test Monday. So they’re waiting on that, but since they’re close with her and Maddie, so keep them in your prayers. And that’s why they haven’t been able to be with us.
They’re just not taking any chances, August nationwide gospel, meeting their flyers on the table, they’re in the four year. Be sure and pick up one of those. And then the gospel meeting that we had scheduled for Keith Cozort, uh, for this year, we’re going to postpone that to next year at some time. So, uh, we want you to be aware of that.
The mans business meeting will be tomorrow night at 7:00 PM. So we would encourage everyone that can to be here for that. We do want to ask those that are visiting with us to please fill out a visitor’s card and just drop it in the collection plate back there and give it to one of us. So that we’d have a record of you being here.
I believe that’s all the announcements that I have, Michael Dell will be directing our song service this morning. Uh, Jay Shafir has the opening prayer and Eric Halverson will, uh, lead us in our communion service. And then our closing prayer will be led by Terry Sanderson. And of course, Erin Cozort will be bringing us a lesson. We had a wonderful Bible study together and we’re looking forward to the lesson he brings today.
We do want to welcome those that are viewing us on the internet. We’re glad that you’re able to be with us. We’re missing those of you that are part of this congregation. And we wanted to let you know that, that we miss you dearly. If you wouldn’t add, let’s get a songbook and join in with the singing. I just opened this morning with song number 100,
Holy ground, Holy ground. This<inaudible> we’re standing on<inaudible> for<inaudible> press and<inaudible><inaudible> were standing on<inaudible><inaudible> and<inaudible> you are. Oh, ah, uh, perfect.<inaudible> we<inaudible> you with<inaudible> man, clean my jeez, us blah, and new<inaudible>. Ah, uh, perfect.<inaudible> ah, we well being for you with,
ah, it’s me clean by jeez. Uh, uh, Some of them are for our opening. Prayer will be number 791 on bended knee on bended knee On bended knee, uh, ah, with, um, ah, ah, ah, ah,<inaudible> lifting Hallie hands to you.<inaudible> uh, wash up you and spit. Hey, uh,
it was a<inaudible> make my<inaudible><inaudible> uh, uh,<inaudible> uh, ah, mowing, ah, me for<inaudible>, uh,<inaudible><inaudible> changed my life.<inaudible> make me for<inaudible> make my LA<inaudible> Let us pray. Our mighty God, our father, we come before your throne with contrite hearts, acknowledging you as our creator and the creator of this universe.
We’re so very grateful that as our creator, you chose to create us in your image and to be so mindful of man and that you sent your only begotten son to this world as a propitiation for our sins, we realized father that we in no way deserve this, that this is just your love for us. We’re so very grateful for the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf for the church he established in this earth and for the many blessings that are so richly bestowed our way,
we also are very mindful that we often transgress and it is for those transgressions. Now that we pray that is we repent of them and turn from them. We know that you’re faithful to forgive our sins, and then we even stand, hold and pure before your throne. And you will hear prayers. We’re mindful of those of our number that are suffering.
We asked that those that were mentioned this morning, that you be mindful of them and place your healings hands upon them. They once again, maybe with us and a part of our number, we pray for those that are being away from us because of this COVID 19 problem. We pray that this may soon pass. And once again, we may all be United.
We’re also mindful of the great turmoil within our country. The polarization here is indeed significant. We pray the leaders of our country will spend much time in your word and that they will have asked for the wisdom that you can give them that these problems maybe solved and be no longer a separation within this country. As we go through this worship service, we pray that our worship to you will be in spirit and truth and a sweet savor.
All these things. We are asking your sons breasted name, amen song to prepare our minds for the Lord’s supper will be number 364. Come share the Lord. Come share the Lord. We gather here in jesus’ name, his love is burning and it’s like living<inaudible> come take up.<inaudible> no one is a stranger<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible>. He joins us<inaudible> he breaks up bruh.<inaudible> cup is risen from the dead.
No one. We love them is now a gracious hosts. Come tick up. Come drink the wine<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> we’ll see the glory of our Lord and coming<inaudible> no, we anticipate, Hey, no fees for which we wait, Hey, come tank up, come drink the wine, come share the<inaudible>. As we have the opportunity to assemble on the first day of the week,
we are reminded of the greatest sacrifice that God made for us here on earth. And that was his son sending here, sending him here to die for us to center. And as we prepare to commemorate that, let us go to our God and prayer. God, our father in heaven, we come to you at this time, thanking you for having sent your son here on earth to teach us in the live amongst us,
but most importantly, to die for us. And as we prepare to partake of this bread, which resembles his body, which hung on that grew cross at Calvary, help us to remember. In fact, the suffering that he did do for us. We pray this through your son, Jesus name, amen God, our father in heaven, as we prepare to partake of the fruit of the vine,
which resembles the blood that your son shed for our sins so that they may be washed away from us. Let us remember that sacrifice that he made so that our sins would be forgiven. And we can live with you in heaven. Any eternity, we pray this through your son, Jesus name, amen. We’re going to take this opportunity to give back as we’ve been blessed,
God, our father in heaven, we come to you thanking you for each and everything that you do for every one of us. We truly understand that the material things we have here on this earth are from you. And we cannot thank you enough for that. And as we prepare to lay aside and store and give back a portion of what we’ve been so richly blessed with,
we ask that you help each and every one of us do it with a cheerful heart. And we also ask that you help the man of this congregation make decisions that are in accordance with your will so that these funds may be used correctly and wisely to further your kingdom here on earth. We pray this through your son, Jesus name, amen. The song before the Lesson will be number 47.
Holy Holy Holy. If you are able to stand for this song, please, number 47. Holy Holy, Holy<inaudible> all the Holy Holy<inaudible><inaudible> and three, uh, uh, uh, the Holy Holy<inaudible> the<inaudible> chair. Uh<inaudible><inaudible> Holy, Holy. Oh, no, the darkness. Ah, the<inaudible> the, uh,<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> Holy,
Holy, Holy<inaudible><inaudible> praise my name. And, uh<inaudible> and CE<inaudible><inaudible> The scripture reading will be taken from the book of Zechariah chapter five, verses nine through 11, Zechariah chapter five, verses nine through 11, then lifted eye up mine eyes and looked. And behold there came out to women and the wind was in their wings for, they had wings like the wings of a store and they lifted up the<inaudible> between the earth.
And the heaven then said to the angel that talked with me, whether do these bear the EFA. And he said unto me to build it and house in the land of<inaudible> and it shall be established and set there upon her own base. You may be seated. Good morning, Tommy, do me a favor. Turn me up just a hair. Thank you.
Take your Bibles. If you will. And open them to Zechariah Zechariah chapter five is where we will take our lesson. From this morning, we will attempt to get through both chapter five and chapter six, as they share a common thread, chapter four, just a few weeks ago, as we were discussing that chapter, we noticed the lampstands and the olive trees.
We noticed God’s message to a zero lovable to the governor of Israel, that he was the one upon whom the leadership would be. But that ultimately coming from him would be the branch. The branch is referenced as the one who God is going to bring and lay the foundation of the temple. And in addition to that would be the one through whom God would bring about the fulfillment of what he’s already promised.
That goes into chapter three as well. In chapter four, though, one of the things that you have as a fundamental element is light. Remember in that chapter, you have the lampstands, the golden lamp stands, and those golden lamp stands are fed by the olive trees. The olive trees are producing the oil. It goes straight into the lamps. The idea is this is a continual,
this is an everlasting light. We connected Zechariah chapter four and the book of revelation to show the olive trees there and the olive trees there clearly describe Alijah and Moses, and here, whether they’re referencing the same individuals or not, they’re referencing the same idea. And that is the profits and the revelation of God God’s light is shining, but it’s important to realize that as you view this vision,
there’s also a connotation that God’s light shines. And that Israel was to be part of that process. They were to have a part, the remnant that was here in the land of Palestine after the Babylonian captivity, they were to have a part in shining the light of God. So Zechariah sees this vision and he sees the light and he sees the olive trees and he sees the lampstand and he sees this message there in the end of,
uh, sorry, in the beginning of verse 10, I was looking at the end and he wasn’t there at the beginning of her stand for who has despised the day of small things for these seven rejoiced to see the plumb line in the hand of<inaudible>. They are the eyes of the Lord, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth. So as we go into this vision again,
as we see what Zechariah was seeing, we are mindful of the fact that God says the Temple’s going to be built. My house is going to be built.<inaudible> is going to have his hand as it were on the plumb line to make sure the walls go up straight, to make sure that it is built properly. But from this place from Jerusalem,
from Zion, God says my eyes look to the entire earth. That ideas sets up chapter five. So he is asked the question there in verse 11, then I answered and said to him, what are these two olive trees at the right hand of the lamb, standing at the left. And I further answered and said to him, what are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the gold oil drains,
then he answered and said, do you not know what these are? And I said, no, my Lord. So he said, these are the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth. Then I turned and raised my eyes and saw there a flying scroll, Zechariah turns. He looks up and he sees a scroll flying by.
And he said, he, this is the angel. The Lord says to him, what do you see? We keep reiterating. And we’re going to continue to reiterate that God is getting the prophet to acknowledge what he sees, because the things that he’s seeing are not normal. If he saw a guy walking on the ground, that would be normal, but seeing a scroll flying through the sky,
that’s not normal. And so the angel Lord says, what do you see? So I answered, I see a flying scroll. It’s length is 20 cubits and its width, 10 cubits. That’s a magnificently large scroll it 20 by 18 inches that are multiplied by 18 inches and 10 multiply by 18 inches. We’re talking about a massive scroll and it’s not just a massive scroll laid out on the ground.
It’s a massive scroll, thrive flying through the air, but it has one message. One small message on the front. And one small message on the back, which means they’re written incredibly large. They’re written so everyone can see it. They’re written. So nobody misses it. That’s what you get from this. Why such a giant scroll? Why is it flying through the air?
I have a modern example. You ever see somebody with a biplane pulling the sign. They don’t put a great big long paragraph on it. Just a couple of words, same idea. Everyone is suppose to read the message. Then he said to me, this is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth. Every thief shall be expelled.
So there’s one side. Every thief shall be expelled. According to this side of the scroll and every perjurer shall be expelled according to the other side. So the scroll comes forth. The scroll is flying through sky. And on one side of the scroll, it says every thief shall be cast out. And then on the other side, every false witness shall be cast out.
Every perjurer shall be cast out. Let’s tie these things into the previous visions. Chapter three, we saw a vision of the high priest and the high priest started out covered in filthy rags. The high priest started out on able to stand before God and accused as one who could not stand before God, but God made him Holy God gave him white Raymond’s.
God gave him and restored his honor. And God says, this is Joshua, my high priest. And then chapter four, we have the description of the governor and God says, this is my governor. And now God addresses the entire earth saying these things have to go, thieves have to go. The one who takes what doesn’t belong to them, they have to go.
And the one who will bear false witness, the one who will lie for gain the one who bears false witness, the one who perjures himself, he doesn’t perjure himself. For no reason, nobody wakes up in the morning, gets called the court and decides, you know what? I haven’t had anything exciting happened today. So I’m going to lie. It is out of self interest.
It is out of a desire for gain or a desire to save one silver and desire to destroy justice. That one perjures themselves. But I want you to connect these two things to the new Testament, because in the new Testament, there was a man who was a thief in the new Testament. There was a man who, because of his greed betrayed the very son of God.
And there was a group of individuals who sought such injustice that they would take a man in whom was no guilt and no guile. And they would find him guilty. But the only way they could find him guilty, according to the law was to find two witnesses who would lie about him. They had to have two witnesses to put him to death and they couldn’t find witnesses who would agree,
but they finally found false witnesses. Might ask yourself why these two sin out of all the sins, that God could place a curse upon out of all the sins that God could say, these two are a problem in the earth. He chooses the thief and the perjurer. And I don’t think it’s very hard to imagine why, because we choose in both of these,
you find behind them is a love of self over a love of God and the desire for what we see as good for our own selves. Instead of what’s good for someone else. If a person loves the Lord with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their strength and with all their mind, would they be a thief? If a person loved his neighbor as his self,
would he be a perjurer, Woody bear, false witness? No. These two sins cut to the very heart of the law of God. And God sends forth a message. God sends forth a scroll. These two things are being pulled out, but then he says, I will send out the curse verse four says the Lord of hosts is, shall enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by my name.
It shall remain in the midst of his house and consume it with its timber. And it stones. God says, I’m sending out this curse. This word is going out and it’s going to enter into their house. And it is going to consume them from the inside out. Their own destruction would come from their own sin. What led the death of Judas?
His betrayal of Christ. What led to the destruction, ultimately of the nation of Israel and all those who were involved in putting Christ on the cross death of Christ. The, to commit in justice. You remember when Jesus was on the, uh, was on trial before pilot and pilot brought him out before the people and said, I find no fault in him.
And they said, crucify him, crucify him. And they said, let his blood be on us. And our children, God sends whores. The curse sends forth the curse and it eats them from the inside out. But then you see verse five. Then the angel who talked with me came, Alan said to me, lift your eyes now and see what this is that goes forth.
Now, instead of Zechariah turning and seeing something, the angel Lord comes out to him and says, you, you need to watch this. You need to observe this. He says, so I asked, what is it? And he said, it is a basket that is going forth. He also said, this is their resemblance throughout the earth. Here is a led.
This lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket. Then he said, this is wickedness. And he thrust her down into the mascot and threw the led cover over its mouth. You’re seeing here a vision of, of what the, the King James calls an ether. This is a container that you would put grain into as you were harvesting the grain.
This is a large container, a large bin. And he sees the vision and he sees the led disk and he sees the container. And inside the container as a woman, before anybody in the modern world starts complaining about the Bible’s view of women. Hold on a minute. But the woman is described by the angel as wickedness. There are a number of women in the old and new Testament that carry forth and attribute of being so wicked.
They embodied wickedness. You turn over to the book of revelation. And one of the churches is told there that they had allowed Jezza bell to have an influence in their congregation. Not that Jezza bell from the book of Kings was alive in the day of revelation in person, but the one who carried forth her attributes, one who carried forth, her wickedness was allowed to have influence in the church and hear the angel.
Lord says this is wickedness being captured and being sealed up and then being transported away. Okay? The first part of the chapter, he sees the vision of a declaration saying the thief and the false witness are being cast out. They’re being removed. What are you seeing in this chapter? You’re seeing God purifying the nation. You see God purifying the earth.
You see God removing sin. And that’s what you’re to get here. He says, this is wickedness. And he thrust her down into the basket. And through the led cover over its mouth. Then I raised my eyes and looked and there were two women. See, we’ve got one woman who’s bad. One woman who represents evil, but we’ve got two women who are righteous.
Notice this. There were two women coming with the wind in their wings for, they had wings like wings of the stork. And they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth. So I said to the angel who talked with me, where are they carrying the basket? And he said to me, to build a house for it in the land of Shiner,
when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base. Wickedness has been, has been sealed up and now wickedness is being removed from the land. But interestingly, where’s it going? Wickedness is being removed from the land, from the remnant. And it’s being removed to the Lando Shiner. Now, if you’ve got any footnote references in your Bible,
you’re probably seeing something for around Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 11, Genesis chapter 10. Why? Because Genesis chapters, 10, 11, and 12 deal with the tower of Babel and they deal with and reference the land of Shiner. And by the way, everything about what the book of Genesis tells us indicates that the dwelling place in which the tower of Babel was built was later known as Babylon.
So Zechariah and the angel here use the older reference of Babel and sin and separation from God. And God’s judgment and casting out these people as a reference for God saying, I’m removing this sin out of my land. And I’m removing in a way to Babylon, which by the way, we’re going to get to in a minute, God says I’m taking the sin and I’m removing it from your presence.
This is an instruction. This is a reminder, just the same way. Those Israelites that came out of Egypt were told not to bring Egypt with them. They weren’t to bring the sins that their fathers participated in. They weren’t to continue in the sins that they had committed. On the other side of the, uh, of the red sea. They were to be separated from those.
They were to remove those things away. So now as they come back from Babylon, as the remnant returns to Israel, they are to leave the sins of Babylon In Babylon. Okay. They are to be removed from them. Then I raised my eyes verse nine and looked, and there were two women coming with the wind in their wings were, they had wings like the wings of a stork.
And they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. And so, or so I said to the angel who talked with me, where are they carrying the basket? And he said to me, to build a house for it in the land of shine are when it is ready, the basket will be there on his base. Then I turn and raise my eyes and look,
And behold, okay. Four chariots were coming from between two mountains and the mountains were mountains of bronze. So he turns, he looks, he raises his eyes and there are two mountains. Two mountains made of bronze and cherry. It’s coming out of the middle as if they’re coming through proceeding through a gate out, going out to war with the first chariot were red horses with a second chariot,
black horses with a third chariot, white horses with the fourth chariot, dappled horses, strong steeds. There’s one commentator. Put it In the ancient days. They didn’t use chariots for parades. These were battles. They yeah. Use chariots to go to war. And these four chariots are coming forth. Now you go over to the book of Ezekiel and you’ll find God and his throne,
and it goes forth. And it has horses and chariots that pull it in any direction. It goes whichever direction God wants to go. It goes straight forward. You go over to the new Testament and you see God sending out different colored horses. In generally speaking, red indicates destruction and blood and warfare and black indicates pestilence and disease and white indicates victory.
But here you have these chariots and they go forth. But they’ll notice what happens. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, what are these? My Lord? And the angel answered and said to me, these four spirits, spirits of heaven who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. All right, these are God’s messengers.
These go out from the Lord. He says, the one with the black horses is going to the North country, by the way, what’s North of Israel, the land of Babylon. Okay? You remember that? God said, I’m going to bring Babylon against you. And then in turn, I’m going to judge her. And every nation that follows after God sends forth his horses into the North country,
the white are going after them. And the dappled are going South to the South country. What was South of Israel? Egypt, Babylon to the North Egypt to the South. And God says, my war wagons are headed to bring judgment against those who persecuted. You go to the book of Jeremiah and your mind. And remember that Jeremiah was among those who went down to Egypt and God told them,
don’t go down to Egypt, but they took Jeremiah. Jeremiah didn’t go by choice. Jeremiah was taken down to Egypt and they were destroyed down there. There was no remnant that returned from Egypt. The remnant returned from Babylon. God told those who stayed in the land. You stay there and they didn’t do it. God is going to bring judgment on the South.
God is going to bring judgment on the North. Then the strong steeds verse seven went out eager to go that they might want to and fro throughout the earth. And he said, go walk to and fro throughout the earth. So they walked to and fro throughout the earth. And he called them and spoke to me saying, see, those who go toward the North country have given rest to my spirit in the North country.
God’s judgment on Babylon is finished. God brought his judgment on Babylon through the hands of Cyrus, and God says that’s done. But then we read them. The word of the Lord came to me saying, verse nine, receive the gift from the captives from hell die, tow by J and J Daya who have come from Babylon here. You have God sealing up sin,
expelling the thieves, expelling the false witnesses, sealing up sin, removing it away. And now you have gifts coming. Babylon judgement has happened and now good things are coming. Receive the gift from the captains who have come from Babylon and go the same day and enter the house of Josiah. The son of Zephaniah, take the silver and gold, make an elaborate crown and set it on the head of Joshua.
The son of Jozadak, the high priest, Josiah here must be a craftsman. That’s all I can, I can figure out is Josiah is the one who takes the gifts that are brought from Babylon and turns them into the ground. But God says, you take the crown and you go put it on the head of the governor, right? Nope. You take the crown and you go put it on the head of the high priest.
Now there is a connection here to the old Testament, going back to Genesis and the new Testament, because here you have Josiah representing someone else. I’m sorry. You have Joshua representing someone else. Take the silver and the gold. Make an elaborate crown, set it on the head of Joshua. The son of Jozadak, the high priest, then speak to him saying,
thus says the Lord of hosts saying behold, the man whose name is the branch for, from his plays. He shall branch out and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Yes. He shall build the temple of the Lord. Now wait a minute, then God just tell Joshua. And the governors are available to build the tumble Lord. Yes.
So is this talking about them? No. Notice what else he says. He shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his throne. Joshua would have no throne. Joshua would not be a King. Joshua was from the wrong lineage. Joshua was a Levis. He was from the descendants of Aaron. He wasn’t from the lineage of David. In addition,
we were told previously that there would not be another King after Zedekiah not until the Messiah came. Joshua here stands as a representative. I representative not of a, of just a King, not of just a high priest, but of a King and high priest in the same person. Then the remainder of the statement. He shall sit and rule on his throne.
He shall. So he shall be a priest on his throne. And the council of P shall be between them both one commentator pointed out. And I believe he is accurate. The them both. There’s a, there’s a question of, well, wait a minute. Is this Joshua and Anne’s rebel is that the one know them, both King and priest.
The two positions are brought together. The peace shall be between them both King and priest turn to Genesis chapter 49, Genesis chapter 49, Jacob, as he is nearing, the end of his life makes a prophecy verse 10. As he is speaking concerning Judah. He says the sector, the sector, of course, being the staff of the King, the Sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a law giver from between his feet until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the,
the obedience of his people. Shiloh there being a word for peace. Jacob tells Judah the King that’s coming from you will be the King of peace. But then in addition to that, if you put together the fact that the book of Hebrews will recur will repeatedly bring forward Christ as King and priest turn over to Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter one, we won’t spend a great deal of time on this,
but it is definitely worth our understanding the connection here, Hebrews chapter one beginning in verse three, speaking concerning Christ, the son who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power. When he had by himself purged our sins purging the sins was the function of the priest he has by himself.
Urge our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, the position where he sits as a throne he’s King, the function that he served purging their sins was the function of the high priest. Continue forward to verse eight of chapter, one of the book of Hebrews, but to the son, he says your throne O God is forever.
And after a Sceptre of righteousness is the Sceptre of your kingdom. So he says to the son, you have a throne turn to chapter four. We’re seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast. Our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,
but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. There’s the high priest, but wait a minute, Aaron, where’s where’s the King. If he’s priest, isn’t he also King yes. Verse 16. Let us therefore come Only to the throne of grace. We may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. He is both King and breeze.
As a matter of fact, when you go through the book of Hebrews, you won’t really find a reference to a King, except you will see a throne June time and time again, you will see the house of God time and time again, But then also you see chapter five, chapter five, beginning in verse six, as he also says, in another place,
you are a priest forever. According to the order of milk, his dad, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with the Hayman cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear though, he was a son yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
And he having been made, having been perfected. He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him called by God as high priest. According to the order of Melchizedek of whom we have much to say and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing Hebrew writer in chapter five and chapter six and chapter seven and chapter eight, the Hebrew writer will hear explained throughout these chapters that Jesus Christ was King and priest.
After the order of Melchizedek, Melchizedek is a man who Abraham comes into contact with in Genesis chapter 13. And here in that chapter, he is one who or he takes part of what he has attended bloody as. And he gives it as tribute to the King of Salem, the King of priests or King of peace. But he’s also the high priest Of the Lord here.
Do you have in Mel Kizza deck in bodied, the one who stands for Christ, he is both King and priest. So let’s go back to Zechariah and let’s see, this is Finishes out. So he shall be a priest on his throne And the council of P shall be between them both King and priest. Now the elaborate crown shall be for a Memorial in the temple of the Lord for<inaudible> tow by Tobais Jah,
Jedediah, and hen the son of Zephaniah. Even those from afar shall come and build the temple of the Lord. Then you shall know that the Lord of host has sent me to you and this shall come to pass. If you diligently obey the voice of the Lord, your God, there’s one other passage that we need to connect with this prophecy. And it’s in second Samuel,
because I, as I mentioned, this is not a reference to the building of this temple. This is a prophetic look toward the branch. The branch has prophesied about an Isaiah chapter 11, Isaiah chapter 53, but in second Samuel chapter seven, we find the remainder of the connotation of this prophecy. In second Samuel chapter seven, verse 12, we read when your days are fulfilled.
This is God through the prophet. Nathan speaking to David, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body. And I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son.
If he commits iniquity, I will chase in him with the rod of men and with the blows of the son of man. But mercy shall not depart from him. As I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you and your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you, your throne shall be established forever, according to all these words and according to all this vision.
So Nathan spoke to David, the branch that Zechariah speaks of the one who would be priest and King is Christ. The branch that would come up the branch that would appear to be nothing. The branch that would appear to be just a, a sprout out of a tree that had been cut off the tree cut off as the house of David, the Kings in Israel.
And yet out of that cutoff tree comes the branch, the branch that would bring life. The one who would build the house of God, the King and priest of the Lord. Most high Zechariah sees these visions and he sees Joshua and inadequate high priests, but he stands for something more. And he sees a probable governor and inadequate King, not a King at all,
But he stands for something more. And God is telling these two men I’ll be with you. I’ll remove sin from your land. I’ll bring judgment on the nations, around you and I making a path for the Messiah. And that path goes through you. As we look and learn these lessons, we learn this fundamental idea. God can use whatever tool each chooses to accomplish his will.
God could send chariots from heaven to do his bidding. But so often God has chosen to work through men, chosen to work through inadequate and sometimes broken vessels. And yet God has accomplished his goals every time, because God knows that when we choose to put aside sin, when we choose to change our lives, when we choose to follow him, he can accomplish anything.
He needs to not through the power of us, but through him, we simply become the instrument of carrying out his will you look at your life this morning? Does your life look like an instrument carrying out the will of God? Does your life look like Christ? Does it look instead like sin? Does it look like Babylon and a pagan nation that is an obedient to God?
Or does it look like one who has been called for a purpose to serve God and keep his commandments. If you’re here this morning and your life doesn’t look the way it ought to look your life doesn’t look the way God has told it to be. Then why not change? Why not repent? Because there’s a warning here too. For the one who continues in sin for the one who persists in sin,
like the thief and the perjurer. God says your sin will consume you. And I will judge you. What is your life like today? If you have need of the invitation, if you’re outside the body of Christ, you can enter into the body of Christ. You can enter into the place where salvation is found. You can enter into the house of God,
built by the Messiah, the church, the bride of Christ. You can enter into that house, into that kingdom and become a part of the body of Christ by hearing the word of God and believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Repenting of your sins, confessing the name of Christ and being immersed in water for the remission of your sins.
And you can rise up to walk in newness of life as a member of the household of God, as a child of God, you’re a member of the body of Christ. And you’ve departed from the truth you departed from the right way. Why not come back? If you have need of the invitation in any way, why not come now? As we stand in,
as we say, He well create a new<inaudible><inaudible> he? Well<inaudible> and<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> uh, troubles. You<inaudible> uh<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> uh<inaudible> is<inaudible><inaudible> uh, uh,<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> on to the<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> but<inaudible> the song before the Closing prayer will be number 631. Lift him up. Number six,
three, one. How to reach<inaudible>. Jesus gave<inaudible> and<inaudible> from the<inaudible> man unto me. Lift him up, lift him up. Sui speaks from me.<inaudible><inaudible> be lifted up from the<inaudible> man unto me. Oh, though. Whoa. Dan’s hungry for the living bread and<inaudible> for them to see<inaudible>. Uh<inaudible> man. And to me lift him.
Ah<inaudible> and<inaudible> from the, uh,<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> gladly follow him. Who wants to, uh, draw, Oh man, unto me<inaudible> and ah, being lifted up from the, uh,<inaudible> man unto me. I was probably a father who art in heaven. We thank the first day of the week, the opportunity we’ve had to come together to worship thing.
The only Truman living God, we pray. The things that we’ve learned here today will help us become stronger Christian in this community, we pray that you would be with those that have been mentioned today that are sick and unable to be with us. We pray that they will be restored to their health and able to be with us. We pray that you would go with us and as we depart,
keep us safe to emit again and crashed, man, we pray. Amen.<inaudible>.