Episode Transcript
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Mike A, four verses nine through
thirteen, micafore verse nine. Now,
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why do you cry Aloud? Why
do you cry Aloud? Is there no
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king in you? Has Your counselor
perished? That pain seized you like a
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woman in Labor. Writhe and GROAN. O, Daughter of Zion, like
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a woman in Labor. For now
you shall go out from the city and
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dwell in the open country. You
shall go to Babylon. There you shall
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be rescued. There the Lord will
redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
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Now, now, many nations are
assembled against you, saying, let
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her be defiled and let our Eyes
Gaze Upon Zion. But they do not
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know the thoughts of the Lord,
they do not understand his plan, that
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he has gathered them as sheaves to
the threshing floor. Arise and thresh,
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O, Daughter of Zion, for
I will make your horn iron and I
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will make your hoofs bronze, and
you shall beat in pieces many peoples and
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shall devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the low of the
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whole earth. Men may be seated
well tonight. My goal is to help
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you to see and to remember from
micaphor that God is supreme, that he
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is sovereign, as we have sung, and this is such an important truth,
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because in all the whirling and turning
of our lives and of our world,
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it is good to remember and to
know that our God is steady,
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the he is immovable, that he
is sovereign, he is not changed by
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the events of this world, that
he is not dependent upon this or that
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thing. God is not sitting every
night watching the news wondering what he should
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do next. God is sovereign over
it all and he has always been this
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way. Reading these prophecies from thousands
of years ago, prophecies which in some
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ways have been fulfilled, some ways
which yet remained to be fulfilled, God
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is the one who spoke them.
God is the one who revealed these things
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to Israel, who is pronounced his
message in the world, and you should
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trust him. You should trust him. In this book, through the prophecies
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to his people, we have learned
about what it means to be disobedient to
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God. We have looked at the
ways in which he is described people who
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have known so clearly the requirements for
justice, for righteousness, for leading the
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people, for living according to his
law, and we have seen how they
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and we have fallen short of it, and how when we fall short of
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God's law, we're condemned by it, that there's judgment for it. Not
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because God is mean, but because
he's sovereign and he's a king and he's
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a judge, because he judges injustice. He doesn't look the other way,
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like false judges do. He doesn't
take bribes, he doesn't sweep things under
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the rug. No, God looks
at sin, he recognizes for what it
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is, for what it is and
he punishes it. And we've seen that
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in the ways that he is,
I'm calling down these punishments upon his people
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for breaking the law. He has
shown us that those who do not trust
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in the Lord, who presume upon
his kindness, who presume upon His grace
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and do what they want no matter
what the consequences are. That, for
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them, is wrath and justice.
But he has also shown us that,
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despite our sins, he is a
gracious God. And then he turns to
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us and to all who trust in
him and turn away from their sin.
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That God has promised redemption of all
things and a citizenship in a kingdom where
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he will rule and make all things
at peace. This we thought about last
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time, as we considered the rule
that he establishes and Mountain Zion, this
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rule in which all the nations of
the world will finally be at peace,
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finally come to Him for judgment and
for Justice and for righteousness. But today,
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as we consider these verses nine through
thirteen, were reminded that until he
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brings all things to completion, until
the Lord Jesus comes in, all things
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are put into subjection under his feet. We must live by faith, we
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must wait, wait and wait on
the Lord. It's seems to US sometimes
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that God is slow in bringing about
the kingdom we see. It seems sometimes
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that the world is hard, that
it oppresses us, that it hurts us,
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that the devil is actively at work, that he and his minions are
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doing much damage in our societies and
our churches. Even and sometimes it can
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be very hard to wait on the
Lord. It can be very hard to
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understand why things are still the way
they are. But the scriptures remind us
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that God is not slow, he's
not delaying or he's not being lazy or
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trying to figure out what to do. He is being patient. He is
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inviting people in while things are not
yet complete. He or while things have
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not yet been consummated. In this
way, he is calling, in kindness
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and mercy, people to come to
him. But in this in between time,
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we who have trusted in him do
sometimes find ourselves in times of great
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distress. Life can be very,
very hard, and it's in moments like
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that that we must remember passages like
this and remember to trust in the Lord.
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Our bodies and our minds are our
souls. We often find ourselves aching,
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aching with loss, aching with the
struggle to live, to live as
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people that are free. We struggle
to put to death the remaining flesh in
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us. We struggle to serve the
Lord as we ought, as we've seen,
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and like a three, I'm even
those who are called to lead US
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often fall into sin, and then
his people are left leaderless, and these
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are hard times. There are times
when God's people, even them, find
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themselves severely oppressed. We can think
around the world about Christians suffering for their
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faith in work camps, Christian suffering
for their faith, being told that they
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cannot make money, they cannot pursue
honest work unless they give up on their
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savior. Christians losing their heads,
losing their lives for the sake of Christ
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and situations like that, it can
feel that the kingdom is not here,
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that God is delaying, that God
is not doing what he promised to do.
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But what Mica for and so many
of the scriptures remind us is that
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God is supreme, that God is
sovereign and he and he is he will
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bring all things to their rightful and
what we must remember is that our trials,
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no matter how long they seem to
us to be, no matter how
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hard they are, they are not
forever. God will make all things right.
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God is good and he will bring
rescue, whether it's our own sinful
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flesh or the devil's working in the
powers of this world, God will bring
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us rescue, and this is the
simple but powerful message here at the end
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of MIC aphore. Israel has been
told of Zion. Israel will be told
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in our next sermon on this about
the coming Messiah from Bethlehem. Will Get
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to sing some Christmas songs next week. But Israel must wait. And you
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know what is sort of one thing
that sort of strikes me as important to
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mention is that is Israel is called
to wait here, and was indeed,
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I'm given the the tools and the
revelation to wait. How much better.
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Are we now in a position to
wait on the Lord? We're so much
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closer to the end. Right the
Lord has told us that we are in
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the last days, that Jesus Christ
has come in the fullness of time,
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that in these last days God has
spoken through his son that the Promised Messiah
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has come. All of the things
which people longed and waited for have arrived.
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We're just so close. And if
God could ask his people to wait
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thousands of years ago and say I
will be with you and I will shepherd
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you and I will be your king, surely we can wait now, knowing
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who the son is, knowing the
work that God has done in Christ,
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the power of the Cross, that
the resurrection has already begun in the first
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fruits of our savior. We must
wait too, but sometimes that will be
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hard, and it is important to
recognize that, not minimize that. Listen
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to verses nine and ten. Now, why do you cry Aloud? Is
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there no king in you? Has
Your counselor perished? That pain seesed you
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like a woman in Labor. Writhe
and Grown, Oh daughter of Zion,
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like a woman in Labor. For
now you go out from the city and
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dwell in the open country, you
shall go to Babylon. Versus nine and
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ten begin with a question, a
question that identifies the difficulty of a God's
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people in their situation, a difficulty
that, by the way, didn't just
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happen upon them. It happened because
they have sinned, and sinned grievously,
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over and over and over again,
and now they are without leadership, now
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they are without good judges, without
good kings, and they are desperate.
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He describes their pain as like a
woman in labor and says writhe and grown.
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You ladies who have been in labor, or perhaps you husbands or others
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who have been with them, know
exactly what he is talking about. It
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is a hard time, a painful
time, and the the reason for this
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is described in the last part of
verse ten, because he says that they
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will go out from the city,
out from this place of protection, and
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they will be exposed, they will
be in the open country. This is
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not the place where where you go
and you're trying to protect and defend yourself.
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When you're trying to protect and defend
yourself, you go to the castle,
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you retreat to the city, you
get behind the walls, you don't
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walk out into the open country,
but they will go into the open country,
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they will dwell in the open country, they will go to Babylon,
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and this exposure is described in very
the better word for this, but I'll
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say in a more vague way,
powerful terms, in verse eleven, when
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the Nations, who are assembled against
her, say let her be defiled,
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Let our Eyes Gaze Upon Zion.
The nations are looking to do a disgusting
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and despicable act of violation upon God's
people. Is What's being described there.
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They are going to go into the
arms of their supposed lovers. For a
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long time, for generations, Israel
has been whrring after false idels, after
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false gods, and in the prophets
these images come up over and over again,
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where Israel is given her heart's desire. But of course it's no good
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thing, it's violation, it's terrible, and this is her her danger,
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her exposure, her judgment, this
terrible situation in which she finds herself in
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this pain and this trial. I'm
particularly I want to go back to the
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image of of like a woman in
Labor. Is Language that Paul picks up
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on and uses in Romans Chapter Eight, and this is a helpful thing to
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a helpful place to go to and
remember, because it describes in particular our
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situation here now. The applications are
more direct and immediate. Let me read
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at length here, from Romans and
eighteen through verse Twenty Five, Paul says,
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for I consider that the sufferings of
this present time are not worth comparing
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with the glory that is to be
revealed to us. Not even worth comparing,
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he goes on, for the creation
waits with eager longing for the revealing
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of the sons of God, for
the creation was subjected to futility, not
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willingly but because of him who subjected
it, in hope that the creation itself
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will be set free from its bondage
to corruption and obtained the freedom of the
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glory of the Children of God.
These language, language that you find in
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the profits of the lion laying down
with the land or the children playing with
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adders and venomous snakes. Right this
language of creation itself being at peace,
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is described here before that happens,
that creation is described as longing and waiting
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for this bondage and corruption that has
come upon it to be ended and to
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participate, the whole Earth participating with
the glory of the Children of God,
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looking for, though, that day
of Resurrection, continuing on Verse Twenty Two,
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for we know that the whole creation
has been groaning together in the pains
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of childbirth until now, and not
only the creation, but we are ourselves,
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who have the first fruits of the
spirit, grown inwardly, as we
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wait eagerly for the adoption of as
sons, the redemption of our bodies,
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for in this hope we were saved. Now, hope that is seen is
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not hope, for who hopes what
he sees? But if we hope for
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what we do not see, we
wait for it with patience. We wait
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for it with patience. Paul says, he looks out on the world and
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he sees creation groaning and writhing.
Why? Because it's under the curse of
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sin. He looks at even those
of us who have received the first fruits
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of the spirit and sees that we
too no longer under the curse of sin
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and yet still groaning inwardly, waiting, wanting for the completion of all of
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these things, the adoption of sons, particularly defined as the redemption of our
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bodies. Some of us are waiting
to die. We are tired of this
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world. We don't understand why it's
taking so long. Some of us are
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wanting to live, but still don't
understand why it's taking quit. It's so
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hard to get into that place of
life that we long to be. We
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want, excuse me, we want
the redemption of our bodies. The creation
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is waiting for the revealing of the
Sons of God, is waiting for the
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resurrection. There is this hope that
is set foot before us, but we
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have to be patient. We have
to there's no shortcut, there's no way
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around it, because we want to
receive the real deal. We don't want
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to receive a halfway resurrection right or
just get over this cold or this surgery
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or whatever this thing is at this
moment, right now. We will want,
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and rightfully so, everything complete he
complete peace, complete vindication, complete
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salvation, and not just us but
all of humanity, and not just all
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of humanity but all of creation.
That's the goal. That's what our hope
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is in, that's what we are
keeping our eyes on and that's why we
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wait, because there's no substitute for
that. There's no substitute for that,
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but it's hard. It's described as
being to as being in the pains of
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childbirth. Now I hear from a
very good source that it's very hard and
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strange to be in labor when you
are literally feeling like you're going to die
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and everyone is looking at you saying
you're doing a great job, everything's gonna
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be okay, keep going, keep
trying, this is gonna be a great
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day, and you are going,
I'm dying, and this is often what
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life is like as a Christian.
We feel like we're dying, we feel
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like I can't take another week,
I can't take another day, I can't
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go on another minute, and everyone's
standing around you going, keep going,
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it's gonna be okay, Paul,
saying this present suffering that you're suffering it's
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not even worth comparing to the glory
it's to come. And we suffer so
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much and we say, how could
that possibly be? This is so hard.
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But when a woman takes that baby
in her arms, it's not long,
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agod, before she has another one. Somehow, somehow, they find
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a way. You Amazing Women,
find a way to do it again.
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And Christians are like this right,
we do it again and we do it
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again and we go through these pains
and we go through these sufferings, not
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because we enjoy them, but because
we know that our God is good,
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because we know that he's sovereign,
because he know that he has a plan,
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because we know that, at the
end of the day, it comes
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out right, it comes out good, and it comes out in a way
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that it's not even worth comparing to
our present suffering. We sold. For
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those reasons, we are called to
wait with patience, to endure her,
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to carry on. It's not because
God is not moved by our sorrows.
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He became a man of sorrows.
He understands our sorrows. He took on
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our sorrows to save us from our
sorrows. What we endure now is to
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prepare us for what is to come, and this is why we must learn
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to see things not from our perspective, but from his. When this includes
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learning to see our enemies in the
right way. And here the image,
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as are they, as they all
are in the prophets, very graphic.
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Verse Eleven says, now many nations
are assembled against you, saying let her
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be defiled and let our Eyes Gaze
Upon Zion. This is a desperate situation
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in which Israel will find herself in, and this happens from time to time
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in the world. Jesus and his
parents experience this at his birth, when
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Herod went to go and murder the
baby boys throughout that region, they ran
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away to Egypt of all places,
to Egypt, the place where God had
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rescued his people from, and there
are they are, fleeing back to Egypt
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to save their son. There are
times when God's people will find themselves like
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there is no way out, like
the nations themselves are assembled against us,
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that the powers of this world and
the powers of darkness at there is no
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way out in situations like these.
God tells us to see things from his
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perspective, and here it is.
Are you ready? Verse Twelve. But
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they do not know the thoughts of
the Lord. They do not understand his
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plan, that he has gathered them
as sheaves to the threshing floor. This
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is like if you imagine going into
your house and pulling together all the papers.
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Just pay. I don't know if
you have this problem. I have
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this problem. Lots and lots of
papers, right papers that need to be
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shredded, and you imagine you pull
all these papers together and you got a
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big stack and you imagine all these
pairs paper, saying, look how strong
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we are, look how united we
are, we're all standing here together right
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through the shredder. That's the image
that he gives here at these yes,
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they are all standing together like sheaves
ready to be shredded on the threshing floor.
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Rise and Thresh O, Daughter of
Zion, for I will make your
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horn iron and I will make your
hoofs bronze, and you shall beat in
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pieces many peoples and you shall devote
their game to the Lord, their wealth,
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to the Lord of the whole Earth. Of this, of course,
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has not yet come. This is
never come from Israel, and it is
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not right for the church to take
this on as our task. Why is
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that? We are not being disobedient
to God and God's commands here, but
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because this is a time of grace, this is the time of invitation,
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this is the time in which God
is calling the nations unto himself. He's
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calling people into the wedding feast.
But there will come a time when judgment
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will come upon the world and people
will call out and ask for the rocks
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to fall on them rather than come
under the wrath of God and his holy
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ones. We sang a mighty fortress
earlier, I might have bookmarked to hear
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I did you know it says that
Dost ask who that may be. This
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is God, the man of God's
own choosing us, asking me that may
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be Christ, Jesus. It is
he Lord Sabbah, oath his name.
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What does that mean, Sabboth?
It means Lord of hosts. The image
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is of Jesus arrayed with his millions
upon millions of fiery angels who are powerful,
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and his armies ready to do his
bidding. These angels who, on
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the day of Resurrection, will come
into the world, will gather up his
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people, rescuing them and bring about
Justice in the name of Christ. This
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is the victory to which we belong
and this is the victory which we anticipate.
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We call, we are calling now. What we are doing now is
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we are calling people come over the
right side. We're saying, look,
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the King is extending His grace.
We were sinners like you. Come come.
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He is warning us, he is
calling us, he is telling us
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that the Jay of judgment is coming. You do not know, you do
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not understand the thoughts of the Lord, you don't understand his plan, but
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you know what God has revealed his
plan. He has told us his plan.
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In the fullness of time. I'm
his son, has come and revealed
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God's will for our salvation. And
so that's a God's call to us here,
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a call to wait, to call
to persevere, a call to stay
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and remain in the Lord. So
how do you wait? How do you
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persevere? How do you continue to
invite even your enemies to come and to
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know the Lord Jesus, that they
might have justice in him instead of justice
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on themselves? How do you continue
on under the hardest and even the most
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difficult circumstances? Here's how. You
remember God's promises and you remember that they
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were promised by God. You remember
what he has said, you remember what
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he has said about Zion, you
remember what he has said about peace,
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you remember what he is done in
Jesus. You remember the resurrection, you
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remember the Cross, and you say, I will person of your I will
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carry on, I will strive and
and and continue because I belong to the
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Lord, because I know his plan, because I know the end, and
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I will be okay. I'm willing
to let goods and kindred go this mortal
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life, also the body they may
kill. God's truth abide is still his
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kingdom is forever. I want to
close by reading to you a prayer that
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you'll find in Calvin's commentaries on the
beginning of Micahor Grant, Almighty God,
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that as Thou hast been pleased to
erect the throne of thy son among us,
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we may rely on his protection and
learn to resign ourselves wholly to thee
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and never turn aside here and there, but with true obedience. So submit
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ourselves to the king who has been
appointed by Thee that he may own us
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as his legitimate people, and so
glorify thy name, that we may not,
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at the same time profane it by
an ungodly and wicked life, but
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testify by our works that we are
really thy subjects and that Thou attainest full
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authority over us, so that THY
name may be sanctified and THY spirit may
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really guide us. Until at length, THY son, who has gathered us
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when we were, I'm awfully gone
astray, gather us again to that kingdom
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which he has purchased for us by
his own blood.
