Words of the Prophet Image

 

 

12_02_2018_BeholdTheWordsOfTheProphet_DonRuhl

 

 

Behold! The Words of the Prophet

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • December 2, In the year of our Lord Christ, 2018

Prelude:

  1. There was a man,
  2. whose writings many Christians do not bother to read
    1. because they are in the Old Testament, but
    2. this man had a huge influence on the New Testament.
      1. You cannot know the New Testament as you should know
      2. if you do not know the writings of this man.

Persuasion:

  1. He Said…

    5 Thus says the LORD:
    “What injustice have your fathers found in Me,
    That they have gone far from Me,
    Have followed idols,
    And have become idolaters?”
    (2.7)

    14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness,
    That you may be saved.
    How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
    (4.14)

    1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem;
    See now and know;
    And seek in her open places
    If you can find a man,
    If there is anyone who executes judgment,
    Who seeks the truth,
    And I will pardon her.
    (5.1)

    16 Thus says the LORD:
    “Stand in the ways and see,
    And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,
    And walk in it;
    Then you will find rest for your souls.
    (6.16a)

    24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward (7.24).

    20 The harvest is past,
    The summer is ended,
    And we are not saved!
    (8.20)

    23 Thus says the LORD:
    “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
    Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
    Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
    24 But let him who glories glory in this,
    That he understands and knows Me,
    That I am the LORD, exercising
    lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
    For in these I delight,” says the LORD.
    (9.23–24)

    23 O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself;
    It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
    (10.23)

    9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
    Nor speak anymore in His name.”
    But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
    Shut up in my bones;
    I was weary of holding it back,
    And I could not.
    (20.9)

  2. He Prophesied of the Messiah
    1. That the Messiah Shall Be the Lord Our Righteousness

      5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,
      “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
      A King shall reign and prosper,
      And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
      6 In His days Judah will be saved,
      And Israel will dwell safely;
      Now this is His name by which He will be called:
      THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
      (23.5–6)
    2. That the Messiah Shall Be Like David

      9 But they shall serve the LORD their God,
      And David their king,
      Whom I will raise up for them.
      (30.9)
    3. That Children Would Die

      15 Thus says the LORD:
      “A voice was heard in Ramah,
      Lamentation and bitter weeping,
      Rachel weeping for her children,
      Refusing to be comforted for her children,
      Because they are no more.”
      (31.15)
    4. That the Messiah Would Make a New Covenant

      31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—” (31.31–34).
    5. That the Messiah Would Be a Righteous Branch from David

      14 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:

      15 “In those days and at that time
      I will cause to grow up to David
      A Branch of righteousness;
      He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
      (33.14–26).

  3. The New Testament Quotes Him

    13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves’” (Matthew 21.13).

    31 It is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD” (1 Corinthians 1.31).

    17 But “he who glories, let him glory in the LORD” (2 Corinthians 10.17).

    17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by…the prophet, saying:
    18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
    Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
    Rachel weeping for her children,
    Refusing to be comforted,
    Because they are no more.”
    (Matthew 2.17–18)

    There is a lengthy one in Hebrews 8 and a shorter version of that same quote in Hebrews 10

Exhortation:

  1. Therefore, listen to what this man wrote at the mouth of Yahweh God:

    19 Hear, O earth!
    Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people—
    The fruit of their thoughts,
    Because they have not heeded My words
    Nor My law, but rejected it.
    (6.19)

    19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress,
    My refuge in the day of affliction,
    The Gentiles shall come to You
    From the ends of the earth and say,
    “Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
    Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
    (16.19)

    29 O earth, earth, earth,
    Hear the word of the LORD!
    (22.29)

    1. Therefore, we do well to read the words of this man of God.
    2. All that I have shown you thus far,
      1. I do not see how anyone can live in wisdom
      2. without knowing the writings of this man.
  2. Earlier I referenced a prophecy of this ancient writer
    1. pertaining to a new covenant that the Lord would make
    2. with Israel, Judah, and anyone from the rest of the world.
      1. Listen again to the passage that the reader read before my sermon.
      2. Here the New Testament quotes part of that prophecy,

        15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin (Hebrews 10.15–18).

        1. When God forgives, God forgets.
        2. The point that the writer of the Book of Hebrews argues
          1. is that this type of forgiveness comes through Jesus Christ.
          2. Only in Jesus Christ can you find forgiveness of your sins.
            1. We all need this forgiveness because
            2. the Day approaches rapidly when
              1. God shall judge the world
              2. when we all stand before His judgment seat.
                1. When Christians stand before Him,
                2. since God will not remember their sins,
                  1. they will not give an account of their sins.
                  2. What will it be like for those who have to give an account to God Himself for their sins?
  3. Oh, by the way,
    1. who is the man who said or wrote the things I have shown you today?
    2. You will have to come to my class on Sunday mornings to find out.
  4. In the meantime, let’s do something about getting you forgiveness from God.