Return to the Lord
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And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis,
and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days.
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.Rev21.22-22.5
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,
and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.
They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.
In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.
Communion: Matt26.26-29
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,
for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Return to the Lord
Zechariah
Intro: Living near Train Tracks: anhydrous
Getting used to the noise
Dismissing the Danger
The Prophet Calls us to pay attention to the danger.
Preaching has a prophetic component
Preaching the Word, explaining what it says, is declaring what God has said. So in that sense, the preacher is a prophet, but not the same as the prophet Zechariah, who was specially called and used by God
Zechariah was likely a young man. Father Berechiah, grandfather Iddo. Time of prophecies: After the exiles had returned to Jerusalem.
Zechariah prophesied to the small community of Jews living among the ruins of Jerusalem after returning from exile in Babylon. This community had begun rebuilding the temple on their initial return around 537 bc, but the work had stopped when the Jews faced opposition from their neighbors. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the community to begin rebuilding again. Zechariah’s opening call to repentance can be understood as a call to the people to repent and demonstrate their commitment to Yahweh by rebuilding the temple. The book of Zechariah heavily influenced the development of Jewish apocalyptic literature.
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying,
“The Lord was very angry with your fathers.
Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord.
Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.’ ”
Turn again to God. This is the message of Zechariah. A message of repentance, a message of restoration. How our Country is in need of this! How we are in constant need of this! God will always deal with sin. Our job is first and foremost to take the log from our own eye. After this, to help others understand the ways of God.
Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel.
Eventually All people will see the worthlessness of the idols: illustration: Two family idols.
Idols can be: Money, sex, power, family, self
Why marriage is so important to God: It represents the Trinity and represents our relationship to God. He uses the illustration of marriage again and again in scripture as a metaphor for God and us, and Christ and His church. He compares a wandering people to a wandering spouse.
He refers to those who turn from him to whores.
“If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the Lord.
Turn and Live: Repent and return to God: This is the message of the prophets of God. His word to all generations, His word to us today: Turn towards Him. Peter, when you have turned again, strengthen the brothers. We need to make a Uturn and get off the path of destruction and onto the road of holiness.
Jesus told us to enter by the narrow gate: Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
God always call his people, who always go astray again, to put away their sin, to have a new heart and spirit. He does not want anyone to die, but to turn to Him and live.
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”
Return to me, God says. Should the world turn to Him? Look around at the world. Predicted earthquakes, weather events, accidents, wars. Morality is mocked. Sinfulness celebrated.
But it is never too late to turn back to God.
From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
What happens if we heed His call to turn back to Him?
And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land.
God’s people, those sealed in salvation, may sometimes fall away. But we must always return. Are you away from God? Turn to Him. His promise is steadfast love.
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.
I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
Gods promise to cleanse comes through Jesus Christ. Turn to Him! He will cleanse you. I pray our nation would turn to Him! We are living in a godless nation now. Who could have imagined in so short a time that this country would be so depraved. We celebrate depravity and ridicule modesty and morality. Yet God is not silent on the issue. As the prophets have said, as God has said through His prophets and His Word, so I say to you this morning, speaking for Him in this solemn duty of mine to preach the Word:
I say to you, wake up! Like the noisy train that your sins once were, you have grown too comfortable with the noise. You have ignored the danger to you and your family. Repent of the things you need to repent of, and turn again to the living God, to the Savior who did not die in vain but offers you a new cleansing, right here and right now!
God has told many generations “Return to me, and I will return to you”. The prophets of the Old testament declared. John the Baptist declared it. Jesus Christ declared it. Peter, Paul, John, Mark, and the apostles declared it. Return to God! It’s not too late for you. You can turn again.
What is holding you back? Is it a lust you have for money, for power, for sex? What holds you back from returning to God so that He can restore you? Don’t wait another minute! The time is short! The clock is ticking on this age, and soon the Christ returns, and when He returns, he will find each of us. Will He find us spotless and pure, like the bride he is anxiously waiting to unite with? Or will he find us steeped in our sins, and asleep at our post?
Will we have His house ready for His return, and hear from Him, “well done, good and faithful servant?” Or will we be awaiting His anger at our apathy and love of sin? Turn to Jesus!
Turn to Jesus because His blood is sufficient for all who hear me! Turn to Jesus because He is the only Way! Turn to Jesus, because He is the Coming King! And in the end, don’t you want to serve the King? Turn to Jesus, because He will make you a new creature. Turn to Jesus because He is the Prince of Peace who gives us a peace that surpasses our understanding! Turn to Jesus, because He is worth turning to! Turn to Jesus, He will give to you new life, eternal life! Turn to Jesus, because He will give you living water! Turn to Jesus and be made whole!
The prophets had an inkling of the promise of God, we have the full story. They pointed to Christ, and Chrsit has come. They predicted the sin, and the turning, and the redemption. Don’t miss out! Jesus Christ, who was treated shamefully, was treated shameful so you can be without shame. Jesus Christ who died, died so you don’t have to. Jesus Christ who went into the grave, defeated death as final proof that you can be raised with Him!
Sinner, turn to Christ! Christian, turn to Christ! Backslider, turn to Christ! Fence sitter, turn to Christ! Bible scholar, turn to Christ! Old Man, Old woman, turn to Christ. Children, turn to Christ! And don’t spend another moment of your life without Him! Turn to Christ today!
