Episode Transcript
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As to us are so good and
far beyond what we deserve. Um.
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They highlight and underline the excellency of
your love and your strength and power Um
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too to keep us, um,
to move us in the directions of your
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love, to draw us close to
you, that we might live not just
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out by ourselves somewhere, but live
in you, abide in you, and
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in your love. Your love is
a jealous love, and it desires to
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protect us and keep us. It
desires to keep us from all of your
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and our enemies. Lord, this
is a good thing. Thank you for
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protecting us and our souls from all
those who would seek to do us harm.
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Um. We thank you for protecting
us from ourselves and our own flesh
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that would seek to destroy us if
it were not for the power of your
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spirit in us. Lord. But
these things, we asked that you would
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now speak to us in your word
through the profit Ezekiel, and that by
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your word we would be encouraged and
strengthened. I'm knowing who you are and
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what you have desired for us.
We pray this now in Jesus name.
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Amen, Let's turn our attention to
Ezekiel Chapter thirty five. UM, feel
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free to sit if you need to, I will be reading Ezekiel thirty five
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through thirty six fifteen Um. This
is if I can find it. There
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we go. This is picking up
um where I left off a few months
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ago. We're coming in to some
really, really wonderful chapters, including tonight's.
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So let's hear God's word Ezekiel,
the word of the Lord came to
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me, son of Man. Set
your face against Mount Seer, and prophesy
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against it, and say to it, Thus says the Lord God. Behold,
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I am against you, Mount Seer, and I will stretch out my
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hand against you, and I will
make you a desolation and a waste.
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I will lay your cities waste,
and you shall become a desolation. And
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you shall know that I am the
Lord. Because you cherished perpetual enmity and
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gave over the people of Israel to
the power of the sword at the time
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of their calamity, at the time
of their final punishment. Therefore, as
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I live, declares the Lord God, I will prepare you for blood,
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and blood shall pursue you. Because
you did not hate bloodshed. Therefore blood
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shall pursue you. I will make
Mount Seer a waste and a desolation,
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and I will cut off from it
all who come and go. I will
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fill its mountains with the slain.
On your hills and in your valleys,
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and all your ravines, those slain
with the sword shall fall. I will
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make you a perpetual desolation, and
your cities shall not be inhabited. Then
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you will know that I am the
Lord, because you said, these two
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nations and these two countries shall be
mine, and we will take possession of
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them, although the Lord was there. Therefore, I as I live,
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declares the Lord God. I will
deal with you according to the anger and
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envy that you showed because of your
hatred against them. And I will make
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myself known among them when I judge
you, and you shall know that I
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am the Lord. I have heard
all the revilings that you uttered against the
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mountains of Israel, saying they are
laid desolate, they are given us to
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devour. And you magnified yourself against
me with your mouth, and multiple i'd
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your words against me. I heard
it, Thus says the Lord God,
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while the whole earth rejoices, I
will make you desolate as you rejoiced over
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the inheritance of the House of Israel, because it was desolate, So I
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will deal with you. You shall
be desolate Mount Seer and all edam with
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it. Then they will know that
I am the Lord, and you son
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of Man prophesied to the mountains of
Israel, and say, oh, mountains
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of Israel, hear the word of
the Lord. Thus, as the Lord
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God. Because the enemy said to
you, Aha, and the ancient heights
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have become our possession. Therefore prophesy
and say, thus says the Lord God,
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precisely, because they made you desolate
and crushed you from all sides,
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so that you became the possession of
the rest of the nations, and you
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became the talk and evil gossip of
the people. Therefore, oh, mountains
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of Israel, hear the word of
the Lord God. Thus says the Lord
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to God. To the mountains and
the hills, the ravines and the valleys,
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the desolate wastes, and the deserted
cities, which have become a prey
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and derision to the rest of the
nations all around. Therefore, thus says
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the Lord God. Surely I have
spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest
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of the nations and against all edom
who gave my land to themselves, as
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a possession with wholehearted joy and utter
contempt, that they may that they might
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make its pasture lands a prey.
Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel.
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And say to the mountains and hills, and to the ravines and valleys,
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thus says the Lord God. Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath,
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because you have suffered the reproach of
the nations. Therefore, thus says
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the Lord God, I swear that
the nations that are are all around you
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shall themselves suffer reproach. But you, a mountains of Israel, shall shoot
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forth your branches and yield your fruit
to my people Israel, for they will
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soon come home. For behold,
I am for you, and I will
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turn to you, and you shall
be tilled and sowned. And I will
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multiply people on you, the whole
house of Israel, all of it.
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The cities shall be inhabited and the
waste places rebuilt. And I will multiply
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on you man and beast, and
they shall multiply and be fruitful. And
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I will cause you to be inhabited
as in your former times, and will
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do more good to you than before. Then you will know that I am
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the Lord, I will let people
walk on you, even my people Israel,
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and they shall possess you, and
you shall be their inheritance, and
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you shall no longer bereave them of
children. Thus says the Lord God,
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because they say to you, you
devour people, and you bereave your nation
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of children. Therefore you shall no
longer devour people, and no longer bereave
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your nation of children, declares the
Lord God. And I will not let
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you hear anymore the reproach of the
nations, and you shall no longer bear
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the disgrace of the people's and no
longer cause your nation to stumble, declares
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the Lord God. Since the reading
of God's word and he busts it to
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us may be seated. Mhm mm
hmm. Well, God speaks to us
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this evening through two prophecies. One
is given to Mount Seer and the mountains
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of Edom, Edom being the land
of the children at Esau, and the
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other to the mountains of Israel and
the children of Jacob. These prophecies,
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these two prophecies, one to the
mountains of Edom and the other to the
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mountains of Israel, are not for
the mountains per se, but for us.
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God speaks to them, but of
course he wants us to hear his
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words. The mountains here are personified. To use a literary term, they're
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personified. They're made to look and
sound like people because they represent the people
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in the lands that they dwell in. Ou There are various reasons why God
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does this. One is because of
the importance of mountains in the cultures of
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many people. Often it's on mountains, and because of mountains that people try
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to find connections with Heaven. Mount
Olympus, you have probably heard of,
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an important and famous mountain, was
thought in Greece to be the home of
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the gods right a place close to
Heaven or maybe something like Heaven itself or
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closer to home. The Navajos hold
call four mountains sacred, including the San
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Francisco Peaks north of bag Staff.
These mountains are an important part of their
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creation story. They believe that the
mountains are spiritual protectors and harm that's done
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to the mountains is done to the
people. There's a spiritual connection, they
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say, between the mountains and themselves, and even when mountains don't hold specific
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religious or of spiritual value. Across
the world and in different cultures, mountains
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often do symbolize protection, strength,
majesty, glory, wealth. Mountains play
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a prominent and important role in the
Bible as well. Significant moments in scripture
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happen on mountains. Right Mount Sinai, where the law is given. God
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says, as he comes and descends
upon that mountain Um, ruling over it,
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and that great cloud of fire and
smoke trumpet sounds. He tells the
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people of Israel, don't touch the
mountain or you will die. Um.
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Mount to Bore, where the transfiguration
happens. And of course Mount Zion,
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which if you read as you read
the scriptures, you might think it was
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the most awesome of all mountains,
the tallest of all mountains in the world
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Um, and it is theologically speaking
um in terms of its in terms of
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its land and height, it's kind
of more of a hill, a hill
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outside of Jerusalem, but the greatest
of all mountains in the world, not
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because of its immense height our size, but because it's where God had put
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his presence and God chose to represent
himself to all of Israel. But even
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though God chooses to work in mountains
and around mountains and highlight them and use
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them as representatives of the land,
and of his presence in the land in
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various places, of his authority and
power. God makes very clear in the
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scriptures, unlike other religions, that
mountains are not the hope of anyone,
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even mountain Zion. They're not the
hope of his own people or anyone else.
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He's not born from the mountains.
He is not a mountain himself.
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He is not subject to the mountains. He doesn't even use them as his
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dwelling place, as if he was
contained there or held there. In fact,
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nothing in all creation, even the
greatest aspects of creation, like the
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mountains. Nothing in creation, whether
man or animal, plant or mineral,
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could ever begin to take the place
of the Lord. Nothing in all of
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creation can supersede His strength, his
will, his power, and his promises.
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Considers some of one through three.
God is our refuge and strength,
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a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the
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earth gives way, though the mountains
be moved into the heart of the sea,
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though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling,
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Even when the strongest, most immovable
things around us are moved and shaking
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and overwhelmed. We can rely on
God. That's a wonderful, wonderful truth.
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It's so important for us to hold
onto. And another perfect summary of
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this is the one I hinted at
before and saw one versus one and two.
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I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
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My help comes from the Lord who
made heaven and earth. He is
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the hills, He made the hills. When we look up to the great,
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immense, immovable features of creation,
we don't look to them for help.
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We look to the God who made
them. They point to something,
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to someone beyond themselves. Their strength
reminds us of His infinite strength. And
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this is the main message that we
need to hear from this passage tonight.
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God wants us to know that he
is immovable, that he is ever strong,
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that he and he alone is the
covenant Lord of his people, and
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he will act accordingly for his people. He is a savior and a savior
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from their enemies. So let's take
a look at these passage UM Ezekiel thirty
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five and the first half here of
Ezekiel thirty six. What's going on in
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the timeline here? Just to refresh
our memories, UM. The first thing
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that you might remember or have picked
up on, is that Israel had disobeyed.
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Israel had disobeyed God, had broken
the covenant with God, and had
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disobeyed him, much like many much
of the rest of the world has.
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And we read the result of that
in the beginning of chapter thirty six.
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We can start at verse two and
read from there um the scriptures say,
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thus says the Lord God, because
the enemy said to you, Aha,
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and the ancient heights have become our
possession. Therefore prophecy and say, thus
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says the Lord God, precisely,
because they made you desolate and crushed you
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from all sides, so that you
became the possession of the rest of the
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nations, and you became the talk
and evil gossip of the people's. Therefore,
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a mountains of Israel hear the word
of the Lord, and then he
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makes various promises. What had happened
is that they had dis obeyed the Lord.
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And exactly as he has promised he
would do. He brought in Nebuchadnezzer
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in the great armies of Babylon,
to destroy Jerusalem, to make it a
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waste, to make it on desolate. But at that moment of calamity.
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As God was judging his own people
for their sin. Edom took advantage of
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their weakness. The people of Edom, this neighboring um, neighboring nation,
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took advantage of their um, their
weakness. We read in verse five of
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chapter thirty, because you cherished uh
perpetual enmity, and gave over the people
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of Israel to the power of the
sword at the time of their calamity,
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at the time of their final punishment. And then God says things as a
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result of that action, So you
see what's happening there. Israel is under
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punishment, right, they are in
trouble. They are um uh, they
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are being judged by the Lord.
As Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem in seven b c.
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And as that is happening, while
Israel is down on her knees,
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Edom comes in and says, ha
ha or a ha, this is our
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moment, This is our moment.
This attitude is captured in a song of
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lament and Psalm one thirty seven seven
or says, remember, O Lord against
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the Edomites the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, lay it bare,
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lay it bare down to its foundations, kick them all there down. This
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is our time now. I want
to pause for a moment and ask,
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in a genuine way, what's so
wrong about this? Certainly there were some
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plausible arguments going on in the various
discussion rooms of Edom that you can imagine
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them arguing why they should attack attack
Israel at this time, perhaps two things
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in particular. One, there are
enemies right strike while the iron is hot.
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Why would we lose this opportunity to
destroy these people that we've been ever
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We've been against, ever since Jacob
and saw, ever since that dirty dog
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Jacob took our birthright and stole from
us the promises of the Lord. There
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are enemies, they're down there being
judged. Let's help out the Lord.
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A second argument that you can imagine
a plausible argument might be something like the
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harder they fall, the more glory
and the more opportunities there are for US
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lands, power, wealth, people, treasures of various kinds. It's there
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for the taking. How can they
defend it? Surely we have our own
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needs. We've got temples to build, people to feed. You can imagine
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that this was not a bad time
from a certain perspective, but the perfect
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time to attack Israel. But plausible
arguments do not equal good arguments, And
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it's good to remember there's always plausible
arguments for sin. There's always rationalizations ways
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than things that we use to justify
evil. How do you know the difference,
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right, what's a good argument and
what's an excuse? Right? Well,
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the way to know the difference is
that we have to align our thinking
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in our hearts with God's will.
We have to know him, We have
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to know what he wants, We
have to know what he desires. And
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that's how and that is what he
explains so clearly in this passage. God
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doesn't just come at them angry and
railing and and Um upset over seemingly nothing.
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He's upset. He's angry, He
has hot wrath and jealousy and anger
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as he comes against edom and he
makes very clear why. He tells them,
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and he tells us, So what
are the things? What are the
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reasons why God is going to judge
edom Um for their sin? What is
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their sin? What have they done? I'll mention four things. The first
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one is that they held on to
anger. They held on to anger.
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Remember what he says in verse five, because you cherished perpetual enmity. Yeah,
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cherished perpetual enmity. They were mad, hopping, mad, angry,
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very angry, and they loved it. They loved that feeling inside that was
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all stirred up, that stewing,
that holding onto things, they held onto
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that they'd never let it go.
Amos one eleven addresses this as well,
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concerning Edom. Amos one verse eleven
thus says the Lord for three transgressions that
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the edom and for four I will
not revoke the punishment, because he pursued
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his brother with the sword and cast
off all pity, and his anger tore
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perpetually, and he kept his wrath
forever. Let it go. Have you
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ever heard that or said that to
yourself? And times of anger? Let
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it go? They would not let
it go. In fact, they loved
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it, They cherished it, they
held onto it. Ephesians four has a
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very very important verse that we have
to keep in mind. In this passage,
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be angry and do not sin,
And in the second half of the
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verse adds a third thought, do
not let the sun go down on your
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anger. So be angry and do
not sin. Do not let the sun
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go down on your anger. There's
so much good to think about um here.
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Anger, like other emotions, is
not sinful in and of itself be
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angry. The scripture says God is
angry, and he is not wrong in
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his anger. Here, anger,
like other emotions, is not in full
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in itself, but like other emotions, it becomes sinful in certain conditions.
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This is very important for us to
realize because sometimes we think of sort of
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negative feeling emotions like anger as bad
and sinful ones, and positive feeling emotions
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like love and joy as good ones
morally good and morally bad. But let
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me ask you. We're dealing with
anger, But let's look at something like
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joy and love. Um, if
I take joy at the death of my
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friend, is that good? If
I rejoice at your calamity is that good?
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If I love something that is evil, is that good? No,
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just because I love something, or
just because I have joy, doesn't mean
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I'm having morally right emotion. It
doesn't mean my emotions are our our tune
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to God's will. In fact,
it's very wrong. It's sinful to feel
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those ways. Loved in and of
itself, joy and it and not itself
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is not just okay. It matters
what we love, it matters how we
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love. Idolatry is a form of
love. Covetousness is a form of love,
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and these are not good. Our
emotions need to be directed correctly,
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proportionately, rightly. That's what makes
them good and bad. And anger is
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like this as well. And one
of the ways anger becomes sinful is when
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it burns perpetually. That's what the
Lord says, here, be angry,
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but don't sin. And one of
the ways we sin is by letting our
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anger burn even after the sun itself
has gone down and the aemperatures have cooled.
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When we let our anger perpetually stew
and rage inside of us, whether
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anybody sees it or not, it
will be our downfall. And it is
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a sin. And what this means, then, many means many things,
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But one implication of it is the
Edam sinned even before they shed blood.
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Edam was sinning in the years and
even generations of people who harbored hatred against
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Israel. Edam sinned when they would
not let it go, when they would
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not shed their anger. What could
they have done. Let's say, Israel
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was even justly, It was even
doing things wrong to them, and they
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were right to be mad. Without
getting into too long a thing on anger,
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one of the best things that we
can learn to do is to give
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things over to the Lord, to
trust him to take care of wrongs,
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to let him fix injustices. At
some point we have to give our the
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situations in which we're out of control
and feeling frustrated about, and we have
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to give that over to him.
And what we can see in this passage
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is that he is trustworthy to deal
with things, even big things like geopolitics
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and keeping covenants. All right,
So that's number one. One reason God
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condemns them is that they held on
to their anger. They cherished their anger
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perpetually. A number two, they
were immoderate and cruel and loved bloodshed again.
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Verse five tells us that they gave
over the people of Israel to the
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power of the sword in the time
of their calamorative calamity. Verse six says
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you did not hate bloodshed again Amos
one eleven. Another part of that verse
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says that Edam pursued his brother with
the sword and cast off all pity.
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In verse five of chapter six,
we read Edam, who gave my land
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to themselves as a possession, with
wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they
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might make its pastor lands a prey. There we see joy. She'll use
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that one right. So there they
are having a joy, a bad,
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evil, wholehearted joy over their possession
of a land that wasn't theirs. This
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um was cruel, immoderate, and
it loved things that they ought to have
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hated. The third thing that God
mentions here is theft they took, simply
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what didn't belong to them. Verse
ten is quotes the Eda minds of saying,
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these two nations and these two countries
shall be mine, and we will
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take possession of them. And then
it adds, although the Lord was there,
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you're not going to take possession of
anything that's the Lord's land. It's
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not yours. And this was the
thing that they were forgetting above all,
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which leads us to the fourth and
final one, and want to point our
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attention to, and that's pride.
It wasn't just Israel that they were against.
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They were against the Lord. This
is not just Israel, another people,
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another one of the nations. This
is the Lord's special possession. This
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land is the Lord's special possession given
to these people, from Abraham to Isaac
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to Jacob, their brother. They
thought that they could take something from God.
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Verse thirteen says, you magnified yourselves
against me with your mouth and multiplied
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your words against me. I heard
it. So this was These were their
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sins. They were continuous, they
were excessive, they were strong, they
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were unrelenting, They held onto their
anger. They loved bloodshed, They were
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immoderate and cruel. They took what
didn't belong to them. And above all,
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they stood up, and we tried
to stand up against the Lord and
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take what belonged to his what belonged
to him um to own what he loved
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and was his special possession and right. And so as God pronounces his judgment
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in each of these areas, he
is exceedingly fair, exceedingly just. Anger
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verse eleven. I will deal with
you according to the anger and envy that
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you showed because of your hatred against
them. When God comes against edom,
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he comes against them according to what
they have done, according to their anger,
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according to their envy. Regarding bloodshed, he says uh in verse six,
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as I live, declares the Lord, I will prepare you for blood,
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and blood shall pursue you. Because
you did not hate bloodshed. Therefore
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blood shall pursue you in verses seven
through nine, And I will fill its
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fill its mountains, the mountains of
Edom. With the slain on your hills
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and in your valleys, and in
all your ravines, those slain with the
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swords shall fall. I will make
you a perpetual desolation. Your cities shall
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not be inhabited. The Lord often
works like this. You love bloodshed,
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you want bloodshed, then this is
what you will get. Theft, the
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Lord says, as you rejoiced over
the inheritance of the House of Israel because
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it was desolate, So I will
deal with you. You shall be desolate.
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Also there is the restoration of Israel. Not only does uh Edom get
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this just punishment, but Israel has
her rightful possessions returned. Not because and
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again in this wonderful and miraculous way
that when the Lord speaks in chapter thirty
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six to the mountains of Israel,
what does he say. He says,
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Oh, mountains, you will shoot
forth with life. It's almost like this
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new garden of Eden that he describes, a heavenly place even that will in
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which they will be fruitful and will
multiply. Right, echoing that language back
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at the beginning of creation or again
after the judgment. Under Noah, God's
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people will become this thing that he
has always wanted them to be alive and
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living in him richly and beautifully and
finally, pride. We have this repetition
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of this phrase that has happened so
often in his Equiel, and he says
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it here to Edom and and to
Israel's will as well, in all of
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these punishments and in Israel's salvation.
He says this, Then you will know
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that I am the Lord. That
I am, I am that I am
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the covenant God who took these people
out of the land of Egypt and brought
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them into the land of my own
choosing this is God's world. He can
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do with it what he likes.
And he has chosen this people as his
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special possession, and he has placed
them in this land. He has placed
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them in this place because he is
their lord, and he will keep his
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promises even after they have sinned.
Remember how we begin, Israel is not
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some beautiful, innocent party in all
of this, perhaps innocent against the things
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Edam has done, but not innocent
in their sins against the Lord. See
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the great fairness in the Lord.
Just because Israel has fallen and sinned and
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is under his judgment, that doesn't
excuse everyone else to just do whatever they
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want to Israel. And it also
doesn't release him from his own promises that
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he made to Abraham to Isaac,
and to Israel to Jacob. So what
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does all this teach us about the
God of Israel? And yes, even
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our God, for the God of
Israel has become our God through the promised
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offspring, through Jesus Christ, the
true Israel. Paul says in Romans,
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for that we who put our faith
in Jesus are the offspring of Abraham and
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rightful heirs to the inherited promises.
And there he's not speaking of the land,
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but the greater land that is to
come, the new heavens and the
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new earth, the things to which
these things pointed, the inheritance and the
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promise of love and protection becomes ours
at and a glovel even greater than we
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see in these types and these shadows
here in the Old Testament. Our God,
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the God of Israel, is the
same God who is here in these
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passages. And one thing that we
learn about him is that there is that
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God. Um desires to clarify,
to put it very mildly, some very
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wrong misconceptions. One is that God
is not powerful or real. In this
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passage, we see that he is
very powerful, that he is very real
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if he wants to make a people
desolate, whether HiT's judge his own people
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uh and his special possession and treasure, or judge the peoples of the earth,
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to which he also has a right
to. All the hills are mine.
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The Lord says he can and he
will. Paul says at the beginning
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of Romans that God's patience and kindness, his long suffering, has a very
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particular purpose. It's meant to lead
us to repentance. When God doesn't judge
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us immediately for our sins, our
reaction is not to be, oh,
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he doesn't care. Our reaction isn't
to be oh he can't do anything.
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Our reaction should be the Lord is
kind. In thinking about anger, the
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scriptures say often of the anger of
God that he is slow to anger,
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not quick to anger, slow to
anger. And likewise, the proverbs and
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other places tell us that the wise
man is slow to anger. It echoes
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and reflects the character this characteristic of
God. God is slow to anger,
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but that doesn't mean he won't protect
what is his. And that's important to
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remember. God is powerful and he
does fulfill this promise. Where is the
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land of Edom today? It's not
here. A second misconception is that God
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does not love and will not save
his people, that He is a breaker
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of promises, and this is a
lie. Despite making clearer covenant promises to
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them and giving them their blessing his
blessings. Sometimes people say, look a
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God, where is he? And
Israel often gave into that lie, and
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they pursued after worldly things to secure
their safety, to secure their wealth.
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The chariots of Egypt help from Assyria
various They looked very to various worldly things,
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and God says, you don't need
to look to those things. The
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same is true of the Church today. Sometimes the Church is tempted to look
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to worldly institutions to find our safety, to find our protection. We think
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that the next election, if we
just get it right, will save us
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and protect us. It won't.
Even if all the right people get elected,
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whoever those are, it won't save
us. Wealth won't save us.
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Um a power won't save us.
In fluence won't save us. The only
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thing that saves us is God.
And a lot of times God uses suffering
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to draw us close to him.
We have to look to Him and This
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is in particularly important when the enemies
of the church stand outside and mock and
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despise, and sometimes kill God's people. There are brothers and sisters in Christ
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in jails all around the world,
people who have been stoned and beheaded for
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their faith. When the world,
in all of its various forms, brings
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all of its power against the God's
people, and God's people start dying,
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it can be very tempting to fear
that. It can be very tempting to
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look to the world and all of
that perceived strength for salvation. But we
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must not. We must remember passages
like this and know that God will judge
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his enemies. In Revelation, we
have a picture of the martyrs crying out
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to God, Lord, when will
there be justice for the blood that has
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been shed? And he promises that
there will be justice. God is not
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a blind God is not blind to
the things that are happening. Yes,
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he will allow us to suffer sometimes, but He is powerful enough to use
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that suffering to bless us and advance
us. And He is also powerful enough
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to end that suffering, as he
one day promises to do the resurrection of
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the dead brothers and sisters, one
day we will rise from our graves with
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bodies that cannot die, that no
one will be able to harm or do
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anything, to a kingdom that is
already ours, that cannot be shaken,
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despite what the world tries to do. It's already here. The resurrection has
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begun. We are standing in Christ
on Mountain Zion, a heavenly city.
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We belong to the Lord. We
don't need to be afraid. Even in
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times of great suffering. God does
care. God is using it, and
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God will set all things right.
And one way we see that care and
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that love is in his anger.
As I said before, the scriptures teach
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us that there are times to be
angry, be angry, and do not
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sin. God does not sin here. And God is angry. And why
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is he angry? Because he loves
us, because he loves his promises,
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He loves his people, He loves
justice. And he hates sin. He
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hates what it does, he hates
how it tears us apart. He hates
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its evil effects. Just anger and
unjust anger are not the same thing.
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Righteous anger and unrighteous anger are not
the same thing. Sinful anger wants what
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it shouldn't have. Sinful anger is
quick, immoderate, cruel, excessive,
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and doesn't die down. That's not
God's anger. God's anger here is slow,
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perfectly timed, perfectly just, and
as he says and throughout the scriptures,
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quick to forgive. If you're like
me, sometimes when you get real
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riled up, it's kind of hard
to forgive quickly. I've said things like
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I want to, but I'm having
a hard time. God's not like that.
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God doesn't have to cool down,
doesn't have to get his heart right.
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He is quick to forgive. Consider, for example, what the king
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of Tarsias says, right, this
is the king that Jonah goes to the
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city of Nineveh, this great capital
of Assyria, this pagan kingdom. When
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Jonah goes and preaches, the king
says, he prays to the Lord and
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00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:38.559
says, oh, Lord, is
this not what I said? Um or
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00:41:38.599 --> 00:41:42.599
sorry? This is what Jonah says. Uh he Jonah says, a Lord,
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is this not what I said when
I was yet in my country.
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That is why I made haste to
flee to Tarsha's for I knew that you
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are a gracious God and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast
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love and relenting from disaster. That's
what we see and that whole story right.
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00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:07.320
This is God's anger on display,
God's steadfast love on his display,
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00:42:07.360 --> 00:42:15.320
and his quick mercy, his relenting
from disaster on display. This is who
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00:42:15.400 --> 00:42:22.159
God is. God's anger, unlike
unjust and sinful anger, has a good
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basis, and its basis here is
to protect what he loves, and what
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00:42:29.159 --> 00:42:37.920
he loves is us, his people. And what he loves is fairness and
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00:42:38.119 --> 00:42:45.480
justice, and what he loves is
forgiveness. Yes, God will come hard
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against fedom, but in protecting Israel
in this way, he makes Israel a
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00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:58.480
light to all the world. He
is keeping even in this moment, his
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big, long term promises that Israel
will be a blessing to all of the
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nations, even Edomites. God promises
that through this people and his son that
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00:43:14.519 --> 00:43:21.079
comes out of these people, Jesus, the True Israel, that everyone who
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turns to him we'll find salvation,
will find forgiveness. In fact, Jesus
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John says, is a propitiation for
our sins. He turns aside God's wrath
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00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:46.320
by a sacrifice. God, in
keeping his promises, provides himself out of
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00:43:46.400 --> 00:43:52.039
his love so that when we look
to him we can have both justice and
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00:43:52.239 --> 00:44:00.360
mercy In the same place on the
cross. On the cross, God looks
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00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:06.079
at sin square in the eye and
says, enough, it's over. It's
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00:44:06.199 --> 00:44:16.679
done, and he puts to death
his own son, who willingly goes out
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00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:22.440
of love and out of obedience,
to take on all of our sin and
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00:44:22.559 --> 00:44:28.239
just deal with it once and for
all, in such a way that the
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00:44:28.280 --> 00:44:31.360
apostle Paul says to us, for
those of us who are in Christ,
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00:44:31.719 --> 00:44:37.920
for those of us who look to
the cross, there is no condemnation.
460
00:44:38.239 --> 00:44:45.280
There's no condemnation and no punishment for
sin, because it's all been taken care
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00:44:45.320 --> 00:44:51.440
of. Justice has been done.
Whatever happened to eat them here, in
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all of the desolation and waste and
bloodshed, it doesn't even begin to compare
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what Jesus endured on the cross when
he paid not just for one sin or
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00:45:04.079 --> 00:45:07.880
two sins, or a people sins, but the sins of all his people
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for all time. God was angry
over sin, and God loved us,
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and that's why he came into the
world, and that's why he died on
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00:45:22.320 --> 00:45:27.280
the cross, and that's why we
are saved from sin and know that we
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00:45:27.360 --> 00:45:32.559
are protected from it as well as
all of God's enemies and ours as will.
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00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:38.840
If God were not angry about sin, we would not be saved.
470
00:45:40.079 --> 00:45:46.639
If God didn't do something about that
problem. If God did not love us
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00:45:46.920 --> 00:45:52.159
so much that he would send his
son into the world to die for sin,
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00:45:52.519 --> 00:45:57.280
to take on and endure wrath and
punishment for sin. If God were
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00:45:57.320 --> 00:46:02.360
not powerful enough to act, we
would not be saved. We'd still be
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00:46:02.440 --> 00:46:09.280
in our sins, evil people living
under an evil king. But none of
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00:46:09.280 --> 00:46:15.320
that happened in God's powerful justice,
in his judgment, in his wrath.
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00:46:15.679 --> 00:46:23.639
He poured out all of that on
himself because he loved us. Why did
477
00:46:23.639 --> 00:46:30.239
he love us, I don't really
know, but he did, and he
478
00:46:30.280 --> 00:46:34.440
loved us so much that he takes
it, takes away that punishment so that
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00:46:34.519 --> 00:46:39.159
we can look to him in every
single moment of our lives. Even if
480
00:46:39.199 --> 00:46:43.719
we're in a moment where we be
area where we are being put in jail
481
00:46:44.960 --> 00:46:49.199
or beheaded or burn or torn into
or any of the number of things that
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00:46:49.239 --> 00:46:53.440
have happened to the Lord's saints,
we can put our faith in Him and
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00:46:53.519 --> 00:46:59.800
know that we have life, eternal
life in him, because he is powerful
484
00:46:59.840 --> 00:47:04.880
to judge, he is powerful to
save, and he is our God who
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00:47:04.960 --> 00:47:12.119
keeps his promises. Let's pray,
Lord, God of heaven and Earth,
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00:47:12.199 --> 00:47:15.880
we look to you and not to
the hills. When we consider the stars
487
00:47:15.960 --> 00:47:21.920
and the sky, the the the
great canyons of the earth. As we
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00:47:22.039 --> 00:47:30.360
consider um, your marvelous providence and
creation, we see you, We hear
489
00:47:30.440 --> 00:47:37.639
you. We see your fingerprints over
everything. We hear your voice echoing and
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00:47:37.719 --> 00:47:44.199
resounding through all that you have made. Teach us, then, Lord,
491
00:47:44.280 --> 00:47:47.800
not to trust and the things of
this world, Not to love idols and
492
00:47:47.880 --> 00:47:55.280
foolish things. Not to look anywhere
except to You and the cross of Jesus
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00:47:55.360 --> 00:48:01.559
Christ, for the salvation of our
souls, the tection and restoration of our
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00:48:01.639 --> 00:48:10.119
bodies, in the building of a
kingdom. They will not fall away,
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00:48:10.480 --> 00:48:17.079
beaten up by moths, were lost, but a kingdom that is forever.
496
00:48:19.679 --> 00:48:23.920
Lord is citizens of that kingdom.
We asked that you would give us confidence
497
00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:29.920
each and every day, and whether
we find ourselves in a big, dramatic
498
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:35.000
life moment in which we are called
upon to testify to our belief even at
499
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:38.920
the cost of our life, or
whether we are in a little moment where
500
00:48:38.960 --> 00:48:45.440
we are trying to let go of
sinful anger, when we are trying to
501
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:50.679
not steal and take things that don't
belong to us. When we are fighting
502
00:48:50.760 --> 00:48:55.559
our sins of pride and bloodshed.
We asked that you would help us to
503
00:48:55.639 --> 00:49:00.480
look to you, and that you
would be there in that moment, strengthening
504
00:49:00.599 --> 00:49:06.920
us, guiding and guiding us,
and helping our faith to be strong in
505
00:49:07.119 --> 00:49:10.360
you. Lord, We thank you
for all of your promises to us.
506
00:49:12.360 --> 00:49:15.119
We thank you that you are so
much bigger than we could ever imagine,
507
00:49:15.599 --> 00:49:20.360
and that we can look to you
for safety and protection in all things.
508
00:49:21.280 --> 00:49:25.280
And finally, Lord, we give
you praise and we adore your name for
509
00:49:25.320 --> 00:49:30.679
the forgiveness we have. If it
were not for your work for us,
510
00:49:30.960 --> 00:49:36.400
if it were not for Jesus's shed
blood, we would still be in our
511
00:49:36.480 --> 00:49:43.599
sins and under your righteous wrath,
your just punishment, not only in this
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00:49:43.719 --> 00:49:49.760
life, but in the life to
come and forever. You have saved us
513
00:49:49.800 --> 00:49:54.159
though, and you have given rest
to our souls. We praise your name
514
00:49:54.920 --> 00:50:00.000
and give you thanks. Help us
to share this word not only with ourselves
515
00:50:00.400 --> 00:50:06.280
in our own hearts, but with
all the world that many would see and
516
00:50:06.440 --> 00:50:13.239
know of your fast mercy and your
abounding love. We pray this in Jesus
517
00:50:13.320 --> 00:50:14.480
name. Amen.
