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Outline:
I. THE PROBLEM
A. THEY DIDN’T LIKE HIS MESSAGE. (II CHRONICLES 24:20)
1. It was a Convicting Message
a. You’ve gone against God.
b. It wasn’t a popular message.
c. People get mad at the preacher for preaching God’s message.
d. (Illus.) John the Baptist.
e. They get made when we say that Christ is the only way to Heaven.
f. They get made when we say that the Bible is the Word of God, and above the words of man.
g. They get upset when we proclaim the God’s Word is above the authority of the Catholic Church.
h. They get mad when we preach that sin is sin.
1- Abortion is Murder.
2- Sodomy is not an alternative lifestyle, but a perverted and sick lifestyle.
3- Adultery is sin.
4- Pornography is wicked.
i. Soul Winning isn’t easy because of the message.
j. (Illus.) Man with pornographic magazine.
k. (Illus.) Lady that yelled “Taboo” at me and John Hamblin. The gospel is taboo in America today.
2. It was a Condemning Message
a. You cannot prosper.
1- Before this, there wasn’t a nation that could stand against Israel.
2- God had provided Israel with land and wealth.
3- God had now taken away all His blessings.
4- Sometimes God still blesses us some when we do wrong.
5- (Illus.) Chris Ware
6- But there is a point when God’s blessings end and God’s wrath begins.
7- By the way, Zechariah preached this message because he wanted them to prosper, not because he wanted to rub in their face that they weren’t going to prosper.
8- His motives were far different than Jonah’s were to Nineveh.
9- Let me assure you that if I preach against something you are doing, I am not just trying to make you feel bad. My ultimate goal is that you can prosper in life and receive blessings.
b. God has forsaken you.
1- He has abandoned you.
2- A message of doom.
B. THEY FORGOT THE KINDNESS OF HIS FATHER. (II CHRONICLES 24:22)
II. THE PLACE (MATTHEW 23:35)1. Jehoiada saved the king’s life.
a. Ahaziah reigned and his mother Athaliah was has wicked counselor.
b. When Ahaziah was killed, Athaliah murdered all the royal seed, making herself the queen.
c. But she missed one, Jehoiada’s wife took Joash, and hid him and Jehoiada raised him as a child.
d. Then he took and army and overthrew Athaliah and appointed Joash as king.
e. Then he taught him the things of God and how to be a king and continued to raise him as a son.
f. And after all of this, Joash forgot the goodness of Jehoiada, Zecharaih’s father.
2. Man may forget what you\'ve done, but God knows.
a. Barachias – The knee of God. The knee symbolized the place of receiving blessing from God.
b. Jehoiada – God knows.
c. Zechariah – God has remembered.
A. A PLACE OF MERCY
1. Zechariah was trying to save Israel from God’s wrath by sacrifice.
2. They knew he would be there.
a. A man that’s right with God never seeks God’s wrath on others.
b. (Illus.) Moses standing between the living and the dead when God sent a plague on Israel for murmuring against Moses and Aaron.
c. Zechariah was their friend not their enemy.
3. Israel refused God’s mercy.
4. They’d rather face God’s wrath then get right with God.
B. MERCY OFFENDS PEOPLE.
III. THE PICTURE1. When we go out to warn people of the wrath of a place called Hell and try to get them to accept the mercy of God, they look at us like we are their enemy.
2. What right do we have to tell them they are sinners in need of a Savior?
3. We don’t want to admit we’re wrong.
4. We have so much pride we’d rather go down with the ship then get right.
5. Invitation comes and everyone else is getting right but you.
A. JESUS DIED AT THE SAME PLACE.
1. Diagram: Temple – Zechariah – Altar
2. Diagram: Temple – Jesus – Altar
B. JESUS WAS KILLED FOR THE SAME REASONS.
1. They didn’t like His message.
a. He preached against the doctrine of the Pharisee’s and Sadducee’s.
1- Pharisee’s believed that what was on the outside mattered more than the inside.
2- Sadducee’s believed that there will be no resurrection.
3- That’s why they were Sad You See.
b. He claimed his position as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
1- They believed this to be blasphemy to claim that He was the very Son of God.
2- They wanted a king to rule over them not a lowly carpenter.
3- They wanted the Messiah to come as He will in the rapture and Millennial Reign.
4- They were so caught up with the idea that they would be rulers in God’s kingdom that they forgot that they were sinners in need of redemption.
5- People today want religion, but they don’t want redemption.
6- They want to be told they are good and deserve to go to Heaven. They don’t want to be called sinners. So they don’t like the kind of preaching you hear at O.D.B.C.
2. The Devil didn’t like His message.
a. Message of future doom.
b. The Devil believed he could kill Jesus for good.
c. The Devil is still ignorant enough to think he can turn this thing around.
Revelation 20:10, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
d. I like to quote that verse just in case the Devil’s in the room listening.
e. (Illus.) Little boy reading a story at bedtime. “If you knew what I know, you’d wipe that grin off your face, mister.
f. We live in a world that is currently under the ownership of Satan. He has the title deed.
g. We see wickedness rising at a faster rate than ever. The world hates God more than ever.
h. The Devil is foolish enough to think he’s got the upper hand. But let me remind you friend, God is in control and the victory is His.
C. THEY FORGOT WHAT JESUS’ FATHER DID FOR THEM.
1- They got to the point where they didn’t need God anymore.
2- Jesus said that He and the Father are one. What you do to the Son, you are doing to the father.
3- This was the very Son of the God of Israel, who made them a nation, you brought them out of Egypt, who led them through the wilderness, who gave them every victory they ever knew.
4- Now God had given the greatest gift He could ever give, and they rejected it.
5- They got to a point of unthankfulness.
6- Isn’t that where America is now?
7- My friends, America has forgotten who has made us great.
8- We’ve forgotten who brought our forefathers here and established them.
9- We’ve forgotten who gave us one of the greatest victories in history when a handful of people were able to defeat the greatest nation on the planet, Great Britain.
10- We’ve forgotten who has prospered us and made us into the greatest nation on earth.
11- And sadly, we think we did it ourselves and we have forgotten God.
D. THEY DIDN’T REALIZE WHAT JESUS WAS DOING.
John 3:17, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
1. Just as they didn’t realize that Zechariah was seeking mercy for them, they didn’t realize Jesus was making a way for mercy.
2. They didn’t know He came as a sacrifice.
3. They rejected God’s mercy just like the men who killed Zechariah.
4. They plotted to kill him instead.
5. You don’t realize that when you run from God, you run from His mercy. (continued...)
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Welborn Computer Services.
