Prisoners of Hope

Intro

We just finished our study through the book of Judges and we got a glimpse of the fickleness and wavering of the people of Israel. What is almost unbelievable is that as bad as followers were to God in Judges the fact that God mercifully allowed them to continue is crazy. Yet continue they did. Historians place the Exodus from Egypt around 1500 years before Christ and almost 1000 years later God decided to send the people of Israel into captivity in Babylon. While in Babylon the people waited and they turned their hearts back to God. While in Babylon the renewed their commitments to their God and they longed for the day when they would return to the Land God has promised to them. The people in exile were called the Prisoners of Hope because they believed that God would gather them back to the land and deliver them from their oppressors.

Today we are the new Prisoners of Hope because we remember the promises of God and we long for the day when we too will be brought home to be with God. We are Prisoners of Hope because we can rejoice in the Savior who was risen from the grave and we can put our hope in a day when the coming Messiah will bring with Him an end to death and suffering. We hope in our Messiah who is greater and stronger than our enemies, who defeats sin and provides forgiveness, who will restore humanity to Himself and give us peace. Today we rejoice in a TRIUMPHANT Savior who is already victorious and who never fails us. Let us Rejoice just as they did on that day 2 millennia ago, “Blessed is He who come in the name of the LORD’ the King of Israel.” Hosanna Slide

The children will come down the aisle and place their palm branches down both sides of the aisle. Singing Hosanna as a congregation. End this section with 216 in the Hymn books

Prayer

Prayer: Westview Wesleyan - Ryan Budde

‌Missionary Prayer: Tim & Sandy Hewitt - BEM -

Bible Reading Zechariah 9:9-13

This passage that we read from Zechariah is the prophetic work of God’s servant Zechariah around 500 years before Jesus was born. Therefore, Zechariah got to write about the hope of a coming messiah that he would never see but as God’s servant and prophet Zechariah was able write about and give hope to the people of Israel that a messiah was coming and His coming was going to be great. As we just read in the Gospels the entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem was just that. He was celebrated as a king right down to the palm branches and the cloaks being spread on the ground before Him. This was the Messiah, the promised Savior, the King who was going to defeat Israels greatest enemy. Zechariah may have not been present at it but His words had prepared the people of Israel for this day. Zechariah had the opportunity to rile up the crowd to get them excited for the celebration that was coming.

Now Zechariah told the people to prepare for the Messiah by: Rejoicing in His coming Righteousness, to Shout in Triumph for He will be victorious, and to Watch Expectantly for the Messiahs promised Deliverance.

Rejoice Greatly!

He is Righteous

We start with rejoicing in the Messiah’s Righteousness. What does it mean to rejoice in God’s righteousness? It means that we are in awe of and marvel at God’s justice. That is what verse 9 tells us to do “Behold, your King is coming to you; He is Just.” To rejoice greatly in the fact that God is just is to rejoice in active governance and moral goodness. This is not something that we usually get excited over. Yea!! more rules, more order. Even though the rules and order may be done for the benefit of all.

The truth is; as good Americans our natural inclination is to shun more governance and rules, instead we want our freedom! However, the problem with more freedom is in order for freedom to exist we need order, justice, governance and rules to exist and we want those people who are putting them in place and who are enforcing them to be just and not corrupt. Otherwise, what we call freedom is just anarchy and in anarchy nobody is truly free. When do people throw parades and give out the keys to the city? Is it for kings, dignitaries, and rulers or is it for vagrants, drifters, and wandering vagabonds? That seems like a dumb questions but ask the normal everyday person in Haiti today if they were better off with a mostly corrupt and yet legitimate government or if they are better off with a gangster named Barbecue ruling the streets bringing death and mayhem wherever he goes. We want our freedom but we want to know that we are protected as well. Therefore we must rejoice in Righteousness and we who are believers in Christ Jesus know that we put our hope not in a human form of righteousness because it will always fail us but instead in God’s righteousness which will never fail.

We rejoice when a King comes because they bring with them hope, safety, and protection and they do so for the good of the people. That is what we see here in the Gospels as Jesus comes triumphantly. Listen to the words of the multitudes in Matthew 21:10–11 “And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”” They weren’t cheering on a man they didn’t know who threw his own parade as he declared himself king. No. They were cheering on a man whom they knew “the prophet form Nazareth” whom they had witnessed give sight to the blind, feed thousands, make the lame walk, bring the dead back to life, and teach them with authority. They were cheering on a man whom they knew was going to be righteous because that is who had already shown himself to be but He was Just while also being good.

The coming Messiah was not going to bring about anarchy or mayhem but Justice and Righteousness for the good of all humanity and Because of Jesus we can Rejoice Greatly because of He who comes in the name of the Lord, The King of Israel.

Shout in Triumph!

He is our Stronghold

The second part of the prophecy from Zechariah was that the people of Jerusalem should shout in Triumph. It says in that they should shout because their king was about to go to battle with their enemies and He was already declaring Himself the victor. Unlike any war that has ever existed before the Messiah, victory would not bring with it the threat of more war but instead true peace. War begets more war. Countries rarely ever scale back their arsenals because the threat of another enemy is always there but that is not what the Messiah will bring about. Instead Zechariah says that the messiah will bring with Him lasting peace. A peace that will allow all the chariots to be taken away, all the bows to be broken, all the warhorses to be sold off. The prisoners will be set free and the peace of the Messiah will extend from sea to sea.

How does Jesus accomplish this task? Verse 11 tells us how, Zechariah 9:11 “As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” The messiah will sacrifice his own life to win the battle and His victory is complete because he will render the enemy weaponless and powerless. Death is the enemy of humankind and there is no greater enemy. Try as you like you cannot defeat death nor can you even hope to escape death. Yet, Death comes for us all and we are helpless before it. That is until Jesus. You see instead of gathering an army to fight death Jesus took on the enemy single handed and He did so on behalf of all of humanity.

Think about when David faced Goliath back in 1st Samuel. Goliath came out day after day and mercilessly mocked the Israelite army trying to pick a fight and his words were, 1 Samuel 17:8–10 “Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.”” These were the conditions of the fight, it was winner takes all. Therefore when David goes up against Goliath He is fighting not only for his own life but he is doing so on behalf of all of Israel. As you can imagine the roar that went up from the armies of Israel was great because they were the victors and none of them had to lift a finger in order to win the battle.

Here we are and our enemy is far greater than Goliath and yet Jesus defeated death and our victory is complete. Zechariah tells us to return to our fortress the battle is over, Peace is here and we can Shout in Triumph because of He who comes in the name of the Lord, The King of Israel.

Wait Expectantly!

He Delivers

Lastly, Zechariah told the people to wait and watch for the coming Messiah look at verse 9, Zechariah 9:9 “Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation,” The king was coming with the power to save his people. Salvation is what Jesus did bring and with it all of humanity has the opportunity to be saved. The peace of Jesus will cover our lives and we the prisoners of hope will be freed from our imprisonment to sin. Verse 11 tells us that the new covenant in Christ’s blood will free the prisoner from his waterless pit. This is a prison we cannot escape from ourselves and there is no life to be found in a waterless pit. When we accept Jesus as our savior we not only are rejoicing in a righteous king, nor are we only shouting because of our kings victory over death but we are also able to wait expectantly because Jesus Christ is our deliver who is able to bring us salvation now and continues to deliver us into eternity.

Gospel

Our victorious king Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There is no other way to be in a relationship with God, no other way to have eternal life if you do not have faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Your Messiah and King

Many of you have heard this truth before and you have either chosen to listen and obey or you have chosen to ignore it. Jesus wants you to experience the peace that only comes from Him, the righteousness that only Jesus can provide, the strength that only He has, and the victory that you will receive over your sins if only you will believe. You can have that kind of victory and all it takes is believing in your heart in Jesus’ Salvation and confessing with your mouth that Jesus forgives sins and you will be saved. I hold out this hope, the only hope that makes sense out of life. Bow your heads with me.

At this moment you are being given an opportunity to make a decision that will not only change your life but will change your eternity, and all it takes is belief. Belief in Jesus Christ as your Savior. If that is your desire today, and you truly believe that Jesus can save you from your sins then all you have to do is ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus as your Savior. If you need a little help then you can say this prayer after me.

God, I am sorry for my sin. I believe that you sent your son Jesus to die on the cross and I believe that His life was given for my sin. Please forgive me for betraying you. Please give me the mercy I don’t deserve and make me your child. In Jesus’ name, I pray Amen.

‌Benediction: Romans 11:36 “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”