Reformed & Expository Preaching

Zechariah sees a woman in a basket and then two women carrying her away to the land of Shinar. This is a vision of the Lord removing wickedness from the midst of his people in his holy land. Those who desire to worship other gods or being rebellion against God will be carried over to he Babelite community

Peter warns us that Satan is prowling around seeking someone to devour. This is a horrible picture to think that our main enemy is seeking to destroy us in such a degrading way. This sounds like we are facing David's fate where he writes, "like a ravening and roaring lion"(Psalm 22:13). The thing we need to remember is that Psalm 22 does not end with a cry of abandonment, but the comfort of God's presence. So Peter exhorts us to see the Lord's presence in the midst of our suffering. We consciously persevere while being assured of God's preserving power.

Zechariah sees a court room. This court scene is in heaven. In this vision Zechariah sees the Angel of the Lord, Satan, and Joshua the high priest assembled for court. Joshua is dressed in a garment that is ceremonially unclean. It is uncouth and not something that the priest should wear. The Lord commands the priest to be unclothed and clothed once more. The priest's condemning garments are removed, but not to humiliate him. This testifies to the Lord's redeeming mercy not only for the priest, but even for his people. The Lord demonstrates in his vision his passion to redeem, cleans, and dwell with his people forever.

Mr. Karel lays out our need for Christ's work to secure our redemption.

Our instinct is to think that if we are assured of our faith then we will not grow because we will continually backslide. We might think that in order for us to grow we should be a little afraid, terrified, of God. If we are not terrified of the Lord's wrath then we will not be properly motivated to grow to conform to him. This is what we might think, but the Canons of Dordt is teaching us the opposite truth. The Canons of Dordt teaches us that If we are not assured of our faith then we will not grow in our faith. How does the Apostle Paul exhort the church? What can we learn from his exhortation?

Christ tells us that we are to turn the other cheek if someone slaps us. If someone takes us to court we give them more than they are asking in the settlement. If someone wants us to go one mile then we go with them two miles. If we take these words at face value they can become rather burdensome to the abused and the afflicted. We know that God defends the widow and the orphan so how can we care about injustice while hearing an exhortation to tolerate injustice?

The Apostle Paul shows where God's people have failed and disappointed the Lord in the past. The Lord's people have fallen into idolatry while calling it proper worship. This is intended to sober God's people and awaken us to see that we too are prone to these temptations. The Apostle Paul interjects at the conclusion of these examples that God is faithful. How can God being faithful encourage us when we doubt his goodness? Why is it so assuring that God will keep us until the end?

We are tempted many times in our Christian walk to doubt whether God is strong enough to fulfill his promises. We can survey the world and it is not as we think it should be. We might pray to God and in our perspective it seems that he is not listening to us. The prophet Zechariah gives us the absolute assurance that God does listen to our prayers. The prophet assures us that the Lord will build his heavenly city. The prophet assures us that the Lord has all this in check. How can this brief vision give us the assurance that God's plans do not fall flat when it seems his redemptive program has failed?

We are warned by those who have gone before us that if we push the boundaries of grace that God might give us the sin that we desire. The Lord might allows us to wallow and to walk in our sin for a time. So, what happens when the Lord snaps us out of our sin? What does David communicate to us about the Lord remembering his promises? How does David's sin, and more importantly, his restoration, teach us about the Gospel?